Educating Quatre - DFA 18
by Dyna Dee
Summary: Multi-part story - Oz has come up with a new system and a specialized team to track the Gundam Pilots. In fleeing their persuers, the pilots split up. Duo and Quatre pair up to give the Winner heir a experience he'll never forget.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimers: I do not own GW, nor profit from my storytelling.

Educating Quatre, DFA 18

By: Dyna Dee

Warnings: drama, maybe mild language

  
  


Oz Headquarters of Operations in Brussels, Belgium.

Lady Une shut off the screen of her vid-phone and leaned back into the unnoticed comfort of her blue leather executive chair. Her two index fingers pointed upward and gently touched her chin as she thoughtfully assimilated the new report she'd just received. "So," she spoke out loud to herself, her office empty of staff and general boot lickers. "the Gundam pilots seem to be working together again, a united team it appears as they destroyed another vital mobile-suit parts factory. The colony terrorists are, indeed, very effective in impeding our efforts to get into space." She closed her eyes and contemplated her next move when the vid-phone chimed. Leaning forward, she activated the screen and sat ram-rod straight as she recognized the caller. "Treize." he whispered reverently.

"Good day, Lady." He said smoothly, his tenor voice was warm and as inviting as his handsome face. "I trust you've read the report of the latest Gundam attack on the factory." he said.

"Yes General, just before you called." she answered sitting at attention.

He nodded. "I must say, I'm impressed with the skill and determination of these young pilots as well as their display of courage and tactical skills." His face suddenly seemed somewhat less poised as his eyes narrowed. "However, this cannot continue. They thwart our cause and must be stopped." Une nodded her agreement, adjusting the glasses on her nose, and continued to listen to the man she inwardly vowed to follow to the end of the earth and colonies. "These pilots are hiding effectively around our citizens. We must discover their whereabouts and take them into custody. They have to be stopped." his voice was adamant.

"I understand." she replied, knowing what was about to happen.

"I'm told the newly developed tracking system is functioning. Is the team you've assembled ready to fulfill their assignment?"

The tall, statuesque woman allowed a prideful smile to light her usually placid features. "Yes sir." she replied.

"Then Lady, I leave this problem in your capable hands, knowing full well I can expect the outcome to be to our benefit. And please remember my directive concerning the capture of these pilots." Treize reminded her, then gave her a smile of pleasure that melted the Colonel of Oz Operations every time he graced her with it.

"Yes, and thank you, General Treize." she answered warmly and the connection faded from his side of the link. She then closed her eyes and allowed herself to a moment of pleasure enjoying the memory of his visage and voice. She felt almost euphoric at the trust the General placed in her abilities to carry out his wishes. She would not fail him. When she opened her eyes, they were hard and determined and she immediately hit the intercom switch.

"Yes Colonel Une." A male voice answered over the speaker.

"Get me Colonel Braun." she demanded in a chilly authoritative voice that made men jump. This time was no exception.

"Yes Colonel, right away."

Twenty minutes later, a slender man of medium height in his mid forties stood at attention in front of her. His short black hair, coloring white just at the temples, was slicked back and he was dressed in full military uniform before the woman most people had learned, with reason, to fear. There was a gleam in his faded blue eyes that bespoke of self-assurance and confidence.

"Is your team ready and assembled?" she asked briskly, not one to waste time with pleasantries.

"Yes, Mam." he smiled tightly. "We can be ready to move out at any time."

"Very good." she nodded as she observed the seasoned soldier in front of her. "You are up to date on the latest series of Gundam attacks?" she raised a questioning, delicately plucked eyebrow.

"Yes, Mam."

"Very well." she gave a brittle smile. "Have your team assembled together and in the hanger three in ninety minutes. I'll personally meet with them before your departure."

"Yes, Mam."

"You're dismissed." she announced curtly and pivoted to move back towards her desk even as the soldier sharply turned and briskly walked to the door.

Entering the hanger exactly one hour, thirty-one minutes later, Lady Une was pleased to see the six elite, specifically chosen soldiers trained for this assignment. The six were dressed in the dark blue uniform of Oz's elite soldiers and were standing at attention, awaiting her instructions.

She walked in with her determined steps echoing in the hollow sounding hangar and at a grunt from the first man, they saluted their commanding officer. She returned their salute, then nodded in acknowledgment of the teams commander, Colonel Braun. She had viewed their training from a distance, and approved their selection to the elect team so that she was familiar with their names and rank. She moved to the center of the line to stand before them and turned, facing the five men and one woman, the team that called themselves The Predators.

"At ease." Colonel Braun crisply told them and waited the fraction of a moment it took for his team to respond to his order. With a nod from him, Colonel Une began to address them.

"You have been assembled and trained in anticipation of this day, when General Kushrenada has given me the order for you to begin your mission. That mission being to capture the Gundam pilots. You are the best of OZ," she told them with pride in her voice. "trained specifically in tracking and capturing the elusive colony rebels. We know little about these terrorists other than they are young, clever, talented, and move within the communities, blending in with young people to avoid detection. We have learned, however, that they have been working as a unit, and when at all possible, live as a unit. This will be their downfall." she assured them. "Several of the five have been photographed, their descriptions are well known to you, though two have yet to be caught on surveillance cameras. But with the knowledge and photos of the three and the new tracking system we've developed, I have full confidence in you that you will be able to complete your mission of capturing all of these pilots and bringing them in. It is General Treize's wishes, however, that the pilots be brought in alive, with as little damage to their physical beings as possible. However," she narrowed her eyes at the team and her voice lowered in warning. "they are dangerous and, when cornered, they will fight with all their abilities to escape. They will not hesitate violence against you in such a situation. You may use whatever force necessary to achieve your goals of bringing them in, without undue injury to yourselves. Any questions?"

The six stood quietly, their deadly serious eyes watching her. Seeing no questions were forthcoming, she stepped forward and extended her hand to the team leader. "Good luck, Colonel Braun."

The colonel stepped forward and took her hand in his and shook it firmly but briefly before releasing it. "Thank you, Mam." he replied with a nod of his head.

She moved next to stand in front of the next soldier to Colonel Braun's right, a slender young man in his mid-twenties with hard slant to his eyes, his brown hair cut extremely short in a military crew-cut, style. "Mr. Crew." she saluted him in return to his salute, and was amused at the surprise in his eyes as she used his team appointed nickname. In fact, she new all their nicknames and planned to use them today showing the hand-picked team she knew much more about them than they realized.

"Red." She moved to the next man and repeated the action, as she did with the willowy blonde standing on the right of the tall, burly redheaded man. "Stiletto." she observed the striking good looks of the tall slender woman in her early thirties. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a french twist and noted that, if it wasn't for the cold hard gaze of indifference in her eyes, she looked more like she belonged in a fashion layout then in a military specialists group. However, her skills and abilities had rightly put her on this team. She was as cunning and ruthlessly efficient as the other men she stood with.

"Joker." she acknowledged the smallest member of the team who always had a retort and a cocky smile on slightly pock-marked face. He was short in stature with dishwater blonde hair that was pulled back into a small ponytail. But what he lacked in height he made up for it in bulk. He was built like an ox, strong, stout, and all muscle.

She moved to the last man at the end of the line. "Ghost." she returned his salute. This last man was tall, thin and wearing black sunglasses. He was an albino who stood out no matter where he was because of his phantasmal paleness. He was almost refused his place on the team because of this, but his uncanny abilities to ferret out an enemy and intimidate people to confess by his looks and frightening manner alone proved to be most valuable. His white hair and skin and pink ruthless eyes that were, at the moment hidden behind the shaded glasses, seemed to unsettle most people and even the Colonel. She also wished him the best of luck.

"Begging you pardon, Mam." Joker spoke up. "But it's not luck that will get the job done, but our skills and training." he spoke proudly.

Colonel Une turned and gave the cheeky young man a chilling smile. "With the Gundam pilots, you'll need both, plus all the luck in the world."

******

Trowa Barton walked casually down the narrow streets of the busy German city allowing himself to enjoy the sights, sounds, and oddly enough, the smell of urban life. His hands were tucked into the pockets of his tight blue jeans, fingering the money for the food he was out to buy for the next couple of days. He and the other pilots had arrived one by one at the newest safehouse only last night and each one of them had collapsed exhausted into their beds, too tired to care about necessities such as food. That lasted only until Duo had awakened at the crack of dawn and began nosily rummaging through everyone's bags looking for something to fill his ever-hollow stomach. 

By ten in the morning, he and the braided pilot were making their way to the open market located several blocks away. Duo chatted amiably about their surroundings as they walked side by side, complaining once in awhile about the last series of abrupt and hurried moves they'd had to make. It was becoming a disturbing routine of late to quickly vacate and then set up a new safehouse after having been forced to re-locate four times in the last two weeks. Each of the safehouses had somehow been compromised, and they'd had to vacate with only a moments notice, Oz hot on their heels. Each of the five had been particularly cautious in this move. Heero had found the apartment they were currently using over the Internet, and with an electronic funds transfer from an account set up with only a little over three months rent in it, they were left a key under the door mat and one by one straggled into the shabbily furnished but clean apartment during the night. Each pilot had hidden their own Gundams in the forests and warehouses in and around the city.

The apartment was suitable for their needs, but a howl of protest came from Duo shortly after he'd cleaned out their bags and ate enough food to take the edge off his appetite allowing his curiosity to take over. His search of the apartment brought about a harsh discovery, the furnished apartment came without a television.

"Do you think we can rent one, Heero?" he asked the sleepy looking Wing pilot as he followed him into the kitchen around eight-thirty that morning. To those present, it was clear by Heero's pained expression that Duo had been at him for a while on the subject.

"I said I don't think that's possible, Duo." He replied firmly, again, and followed up his opinion with a wide yawn after which he stopped to stretch, popping the bones in his back in the process. "We might not be here that long."

"But I'll go nuts without some form of entertainment." the American pouted then turned to look at his friends sitting at the kitchen table with a gleam in his eyes. "I guess that just means I'll have to become creative. Kinda keep things lively around here." He wiggled his eyebrows suggesting mischief. 

That statement caused Trowa to look up from the from the book he'd been reading in relative quiet until the other two entered the room. Quatre and Wufei were also present in the kitchen, but had been sitting and talking quietly with each other. The tall boy stared warily at their long haired friend, a shiver of something close to trepidation went up his spine. When Duo decided to become "creative" bad things usually happened. But then the look on the American's face changed to a more thoughtful expression, lessening his uneasiness slightly.

"Hum, maybe I could steal a television." he thought aloud.

"No, Duo." Trowa's voice had a definite tone of warning to it. The others nodded their agreement.

"Borrow one?" the other asked with a look of hope on his face.

The Heavyarm's pilot shook his head with a crooked, rueful smile.

"Well, in that case." Duo smiled back genuinely. "You, Trowa, are officially proclaimed my entertainment advisor, and right now food would certainly be a great form of entertainment."

They dressed, and not much later the two were walking towards the marketplace the owner of the apartment had circled on a map of the city, which they'd found on the kitchen table the day before, to help orientate them to the new city. They entered the busy pedestrian trafficked thoroughfare, finding the cobblestone street was blocked off from motor vehicles for several blocks, allowing vendors, along with their booths, to be set up on the sidewalks facing out into the street were the citizens of the city shopped for the fresh produce and the homemade goods they offered.

Trowa smiled pleasantly, he liked shopping for their food, especially in a market like this. He went from stall to stall inspecting the fruit and vegetables and talking briefly to the vendors. After the fifth stall though, it was quite apparent that his partner was quickly becoming bored with the slowness of his pace.

"Man, where's the good food?" Duo complained looking all around him.

Trowa sighed with feigned forbearance. "Why don't you go down to the end of the street. I think I smell food being prepared." He suggested then looked down at his smaller friend. "Got any money?"

The long chestnut colored braid flicked back and forth as they boy shook his head looking like an innocent waif. Not surprised by the other pilot's answer, as Duo never seemed to have any money, Trowa withdrew several of the bills out of his pocket and gave them to the grinning boy in front of him. "Don't go too far." he warned him and was rewarded with a cheerful wave as Duo turned and made haste to the fragrant smells wafting in the breeze that came from the far end of the street.

The market was busy with mostly women carrying baskets of various sizes on their arms that were loaded with the fresh produce. Trowa had his purchases placed in plastic bags. Having procured enough fruit, vegetables, and bread for several days, he looked around for his friend. They would need to go to a market to buy some meat, milk, and juice before returning to the safehouse.

Suddenly, a tingling sensation brought him to alertness. Slowly turning, he scanned the market. Someone was looking at him, he could feel it. He noticed a few eyes on him, but they were quickly dismissed as he recognized the look of female appreciation. Still, the feeling persisted as well as a growing sense of danger. He'd not dismiss those feelings as he learned long ago to act on his instincts. His head turned forward again and he spotted Duo in the distance. He stood in front of a booth about two hundred feet from his position. His friend had a plateful of food in one hand, a mouthful of something, and he was pointing to what was probably a sweet pastry.

Trying to act as casual as possible to keep up the appearance that he hadn't detected anything was wrong, he nonchalantly made his way towards his friend, stopping at food booths briefly on the way to appear like he hadn't suspected a tail. As he approached, Duo looked up and smiled, a bit of cream at the corner of his mouth. Trowa walked close by without stopping or looking at him. "I'm being followed." he whispered as he paused, then stooped over to pick up a non-existent coin on the pavement. "Meet me at the market's point of entry in ten minutes." he said aside to the other pilot as he stood and then continued ahead in a casual manner down the street.

Duo blinked with a start then turned back to face the pastry booth he'd been contemplating. He then angled himself around the corner of the booth to get a view of the direction Trowa had just come from and glanced at the people around them. They were mostly women with a few men mingling about. Then in the distance, his eyes lit on a large built, red-headed man dressed in a dark blue tee-shirt and blue jeans. Not so unusual at first glance, except for the way he held himself, like a soldier, straight backed and fully alert. The man's eyes were focused past his own position to where the American guessed was Trowa's back. 

Licking his fingers and wiping his mouth, he tossed the napkin that had held the cream puff he'd just popped into his mouth and the plate of unfinished food into the trash receptacle. There. His sharp eyes lit on another person, looking out of place at a fruit booth across the street from the redhead. This man was taller with white hair and the palest skin he'd ever seen. He wore dark reflective sunglasses, but he had seen the man nod in the direction of the redheaded man he'd first spotted. They both began to move forward, the redhead taking the lead, following the direction Trowa had gone. The American's eyes narrowed. They were a tag team and their sites were on his friend.

Making sure their eyes were not in his direction as they made their way forward, Duo eased himself down into a crouched position behind the booth. He quickly gathered his braid and slipped it down the back of his shirt and pulled his black cap out from his pocket and placed it on his head, his sunglasses were pulled from his pocket and put in place.

Once he was properly disguised, he lifted the canvas material covering the sides of the tables that displayed the vendor's pastries and crawled under it. The old woman who had just sold him the pastry looked at him in alarm. He put his finger to his lips and tilting his head so she could see his eyes over the top of the glasses, and gave her a reassuring smile as he winked at her. After a moment of stunned surprise, she smiled and winked back, then returned to calling out for customers to taste her fine homemade delights.

Cautious to make no sound, the Deathscythe pilot scrambled under the tables to the front where the canvas overlapped and eased an edge open. After a moment, he was rewarded, first by seeing the red haired man weave through the crowd, trying to look inconspicious, then a moment later, whitey came following behind. Both were unaware of his scrutiny as they passed the booth of homemade sweets. He waited until they were a safe distance away but still visible when he started to move. He stopped suddenly before completely turning away, his eyes caught sight of another figure passing by that seemed out of place. A tall blonde woman dressed in fitted jeans, a yellow form-fitting sweater, and long legs that seemed to go on forever walked by with an air of confidence that made her stand out among the other shoppers. Her eyes were fixated on something in front of her. Added to that suspicion, she didn't carry a purse nor a basket for her purchases, and he could see that she wore an earpiece that she tapped once in a while. Then she gave herself away as she raised her right arm and talked into her sleeve. 

Duo hissed. "Damn, how many are there?" he wondered. After she passed his hiding place, he made his way back to the opposite side of the booth from which he'd entered and made a quick exit by crawling under the canvas again. In his most causal manner, he stood and looked around, his trained eyes taking in every detail around him. After assuring himself that there weren't any more of the tag team following Trowa, he wove made his way back to the point he and Trowa had entered the market. Seeing a man on a cell phone reminded him of his next responsibility. He moved towards the man, an obvious produce vendor, and reached into his pocket and into a place he'd specifically sewn into the inner pocket of his pants. He caught the man's attention by waving an obscenely large bill in front of his face. The man paused in the middle of his sentence.

"Can I help you?" he asked, cautiously eager.

Duo smiled and nodded. "This is yours" he waved the bill in front of the man's face, "if I can use your cell phone for two minutes."

"Gotta go, Hans." the man said into the receiver and the phone beeped off. He promptly exchanged it with the long-haired teenager for the large bill. No questions asked for that amount of money.

"Thanks." the boy smiled at the exchange. He immediately dialed Heero's cell and took a few steps away from the man. After two rings, a click was heard and a "Yes?"

"Heero, we're compromised." he whispered as loud as he thought safe.

"Impossible." was the bland disbelieving reply.

"Three are tagging Trowa right now."

"You're sure?"

"Positive. Military types in civilian clothes; two male, one female."

"Get to Trowa and give him my instruction for a rendezvous, then split and make your way there."

"Roger."

"Take the main Autobahn north exactly one kilometer from the last exit leaving the city. The area is densely forested and there's a ravine one hundred and fifty feet to the east of the road. Follow it north until you come to an abrupt drop in the path and a small fall of water over several boulders. Wait there for the rest of us. Got it?"

"Got it." Duo acknowledged.

"Be careful."

"You, too."

Turning the cell phone off, he turned and walked back to the man he'd borrowed it from and handed the phone back to him with a carefree smile. "Thanks." he tried hard to look like a typical kid. "Had to check in with my folks." he explained with a long suffering look. 

"Your welcome." the man smiled and fingered the bill now safely tucked in his pants pocket that represented several day's profits.

With a quick check around to see if anyone was taking particular notice of his actions, and not seeing any, the pilot of Deathscythe melted into the growing crowd of shoppers and headed towards the market's point of entry.

Tbc


	2. part 2

Educating Quatre

By: Dyna Dee - DFA 18

Part 2

Standing within the shadows of a deep-set doorway of a storefront, the Deathscythe pilot's eyes searched the crowd for his friend. He'd been there for about a quarter of an hour and hoped he wasn't looking suspicious. Leaning against the glass window, he gave the appearance of being at ease, not really worrying much about Trowa's abilities to lose the tag as he was a master at losing himself in a crowd of two. A sudden light touch on his shoulder caused the Deathscythe pilot to whirl around in alarm to face the green-eyed boy calmly standing behind him. Trowa's eyes, lit up with amusement at startling the other, met Duo's for just a moment before they shifted to search the area surrounding of the storefront.

"Geeze, Trowa, scare the crap outta me." Duo whispered tersely as he scowled at the taller boy. "How'd you get here anyway?" he indicated the area behind him, thinking he'd been in a protected space.

"Back door." was his quiet, simple, and completely Trowa-like explanation.

"I notified Heero." Duo turned to fully face the Heavyarm's pilot whose sharp eyes moved constantly scanning the area. The braided boy then repeated Heero's instructions and location of their rendezvous. Without looking down, Trowa nodded his understanding, then led Duo into the store.

"You had three tags on you." Duo reported as they moved into the store together. Keeping his voice low, he described in detail the three who had followed him down the street. "I don't think they made me, but I can't be sure."

Trowa nodded and bent lower to speak softly to the smaller teen. "I saw the two, but not the woman." They continued to move through the store that had a mixture of clothing and accessories, both male and female. As they moved, they each began to pick out articles of clothing and hats for disguises.

Suddenly the braided boy noticed something missing. "Hey, where's the food?" he inquired with a searching look behind the taller boy.

"I had to leave it behind in order to do the climbing necessary to lose the tag."

The unhappy pout on Duo's face spoke plainly of what he thought of the loss of food.

With a sigh of resignation he followed Trowa to the next rack containing shirts and they rummaged through it looking for something appropriate. "These are way to big for me." Duo complained softly as he held up the men's shirt marked small, a size that might fit the tall, slender boy, but not the almost diminutive American. His 5'2" inch height and slender build guaranteed that he would be lost in almost any clothing in the store.

Trowa turned and studied the other boy with a thoughtful eye. "Take off your shirt."

Duo looked up questioningly, one eyebrow lifting up. Nevertheless, he unbuttoned his black, long sleeve shirt and pulled it off. He wore a white tee-shirt underneath. Reaching over to a display shelf, Trowa grabbed a beige sports cap and passed it to Duo. "Tuck all of your hair into this."

Taking off his black hat, Duo pulled his braid up and wrapped it around the top of his head.

"Bangs too." Trowa instructed.

With another deep sigh at the request, the boy complied, though it ended up taking the both of them to accomplish the difficult task of getting the mass of chestnut colored hair under the cap. Once secure, the taller boy observed his friend again, and nodded his approval at the change in appearance. Duo glared in return. He hated pulling the hair covering his forehead back, it made his eyes look freakishly large and made him look even younger than his sixteen years. As he looked up into his friend's face, Trowa blinked in surprise.

"Duo....your eyes." he whispered in astonishment.

"Yeah...I know," he answered with a tone of disgust. "freakishly large."

"No." Trowa shook his head. "They're.......amazing." Then a frown formed on his face. "Too amazing not to be noticed. Do you have your sunglasses with you?"

Reaching into the deep pocket of his pants, he pulled out his favorite pair of shades and once again slipped them onto his pert nose.

"Perfect." Trowa declared quietly, a slight grin twitching at the corners of his mouth. "You look like a twelve year old juvenile delinquent."

"Shut up." the Deathscythe pilots replied and punched his friend's arm in retaliation.

The Heavyarm's pilot didn't laugh out loud, but Duo thought he heard a slight snicker. He followed the taller teen through the shop as Trowa selected a light blue polo shirt, and a blue cap similar to Duo's and for himself, and after taking the tags off, tucked his bangs up into it also. Now it was the smaller teens turn to stand with his mouth hanging. He'd never seen Trowa's face and eyes so exposed, and he found the green orbs were striking. "Wow Trowa, you should wear your hair back more often. The girls will drop at your feet and worship you just at the sight of your eyes." Duo declared.

"I will if you will." A small smile quirked at the corner of Trowa's mouth.

Duo rolled his eyes. "Fat chance." he replied and tied his long sleeved shirt around his waist. As Trowa paid for their purchases, the Deathscythe pilot thought about how all of them, with the exception of Wufei, kept their hair long in the front to somewhat cover their eyes, Duo wondered why that was to himself. Did they all harbor insecurities deep inside themselves? Were they that insecure, or just so use to hiding that it became a part of who they were, even in their appearances? He tucked that thought away for future contemplation and followed his friend to the storefront. 

Trowa quickly pulled on the polo shirt and left it hanging loose. He pulled Duo close in order to speak in a quiet voice. "I'm going out the back door." he told him. "Don't go back to the safehouse, just make your way to the rendezvous point." Duo nodded and turned to go when he felt his upper arm grabbed and he was pulled back to his friend's side. His eyes raised questioningly to meet his friend's. "Be careful." Trowa said quietly, but with a look of urgency on his face.

"I will," Duo replied in a more serious tone. " you too, Trowa." They exchanged a wordless but needed expression of the feeling of brotherhood they felt for each other. Concern and worry on each of their faces was revealed for only a moment before each nodded and parted to go their separate ways.

Trowa exited the back door of the store and walked several blocks unaccosted by anyone. He promptly stole a motorcycle and made his way to the point of rendezvous.

Duo "borrowed" a thirty-speed bicycle and wove through the narrow city streets and traffic northward towards the Autobahn. After nearly being hit by three automobiles and having to ask directions several times, he finally reached the outskirts of town, his skin was glistening from his efforts and his calf muscles were becoming stiff from the unfamiliar form of exercise. Until coming to earth he'd never ridden a bicycle, and he remembered fondly how on a visit to one of Quatre's plush homes that Rashid had taken time to teach him how to ride one.

The sign at the entrance of the Autobahn clearly indicated that bicycles and pedestrians were not allowed on the fast moving highway. He turned off to the east side of the road. Laying the bicycle against a brick building, he abandoned it and casually crossed the street and entered the heavily wooded area to begin the one mile walk towards the ravine paralleling the highway. Making sure he wasn't being followed, he walked cautiously, checking the area around him constantly for any signs of a tail.

He scarcely noticed the wooded scenery nor the sounds of birds in the trees surrounding him, but he did notice the thick brown mud that stuck to his boots as he trudged through the shaded forest, the ground having been dampened by the recent rains. The shaded woods also caused the goose bumps to rise on his arms and legs. Untying his shirt from around his waist, he slipped it back on and continued on his way. He finally found the ravine and followed it, slightly perturbed at the tracks he was leaving behind him, knowing there was nothing he could do about it. He just hoped the rain that had been forecast for later that afternoon would cover them up. The ravine had a good sized stream of fast moving water flowing down the center of it. He followed it for at least a half hour before his ears picked up the sound of water splashing. He walked closer towards the sound and suddenly the path he followed dropped off. He paused to look down over the edge, seeing the fall of water spilling gently over the rocks onto the bouldered area below. It wasn't a great height, thirty feet at most and, after taking a breath of determination, he began his descent of the slick and slippery slope. The carefully place footsteps didn't help as the slipperiness of the wet earth caused his booted feet to fly out from under him, landing the teen on his posterior. His sliding down the hillside proved to be messy, ending with his hands, boots, and seat of his pants wet and thick with mud by the time he got to the bottom of the slope.

"Dammit!" he swore as he tried to brush the offensive muck from off himself. Reaching up, he removed his hat, freeing his mass of hair. The sudden click of a gun spun him around and into a defensive crouch, facing towards the other side of the stream to find three of his friends stepping out from behind the shelter of a large rock on the other side of the small water fall. Heero was lowering his gun and putting the safety back on.

Duo nodded to the three, then scanned the area. "Where's Quatre?"

"He'll be here soon." Heero assured him, but the worried frown on Trowa and Wufei's faces failed to calm his own growing sense of alarm concerning their missing friend. It was then that Duo noticed a make-shift and bloody bandage tied around Heero's upper left biceps. His eyes raised to meet cobalt blue ones. "You okay? What happened?" he questioned.

"I'm fine." Heero answered calmly, dismissing his wound with a shrug of his right shoulder. "After Quatre and Wufei left, I went to the market place to see if I could find out something about the three you described. I picked out two others. Different from what you described. One was about five foot, eight inches, slender with brown hair, narrow eyes, a very short military hair cut. The other guy was shorter five foot five inches, but stocky in build. He moved as if he was all serious muscle. Dark blonde hair pulled back similar to Wufei's and a saucy grin like your's, Duo. Both were heavily armed, unnoticeable to others, but detectable to me."

The other three nodded at Heero's descriptions, picturing the individuals he described in their minds and memorizing the details.

"They were good." he told them all. "Their instincts were sharp and, somehow, they detected me; and once they realized I'd spotted them, they began to advance towards me." Heero continued. "I tried to lose myself in the crowd, but there weren't a lot of Asians on the streets this morning." he explained. "Once free of the crowded market, they began to fire their weapons in order to stop me." His forehead furrowed as he thought. "I don't think they wanted me dead. I have no doubt they could have easily accomplished that as I was in their line of fire numerous times between the two of them." He looked up solemnly. "They were definitely a Special's Team, and hard to lose."

Duo reached his arm up and scratched the back of his head, then remembering the state of his dirty hands looked disgustedly at them. "Man Heero. This was way too soon, we just got here. How the hell did they find us? It is OZ, isn't it?" he asked.

"They are definitely military trained." Heero replied and watched as Duo began to look for a way to cross the five foot wide stream without getting wet. He began to hop on stones that topped the surface as Heero continued. "I've been searching Oz's files regularly and recently came across a high security file labeled "Predators". Funds were diverted to this and two other projects that seem to be related, but I couldn't find any more data other than one of the other projects was named Project C.G.P, and the other was classified to a science division elsewhere."

Duo was now safely across the stream, smiling at his accomplishment. Crouching down, he placed his soiled hands in the frigid water and worked off the mud. "Did you manage to leave with any of our stuff?" he asked looking up from his position below them.

"We were unpacking as your call came." Wufei stepped into the conversation. "So it was not hard to leave the safehouse with what we came with, minus any food supplies." he lightly accused the braided boy with a piercing look.

"Well, we had to eat." Duo replied unapologetic. "Where's my bag?" he asked as he stood up, shaking the excess water from his hands.

"Quatre has it."

Unconsciously, all four turned their eyes to look worriedly up the slope, wondering where their blonde friend was.

"You did manage to ditch those two after they shot you, right?" Duo asked and Heero didn't dignify him with a verbal answer, but with a snide glare and a disgusted snort letting the American know the ridiculousness of the question he'd asked.

"So there are five military types, probably a specialized unit, that seems to have an uncanny knack of tracking us?" Duo surmised aloud. 

Wufei nodded. "Five of them tracking five of us." he answered thoughtfully. "Could they be what the file indicated as the Predators?"

Trowa nodded. "It seems plausible that sooner or later OZ would assemble a specialized team trained to capture or kill us."

Heero looked up sharply. "C.G.P, Capture Gundam Pilots?" he reasoned out loud.

"What do we do now?" Duo asked trying to hide the sense of the worry that was settling in as each minute passed.

"We wait for Quatre." Trowa replied firmly. "If he's not here soon, I'm going back for him."

"What resources do we have." Duo asked again. "Money, food, water?" the three collectively rolled their eyes.

"What? What'd I say?" the long hair boy asked incredulous at their response to his question.

"You ate most of the food this morning, Duo." Wufei looked at him accusingly.

"Hey, I'm a growing boy with a overactive metabolism. I can't help it if I get hungry....often." he added the last with an impish smile.

The sound of a twig snapping on the path above caused the four to look up sharply. Even as Duo smiled, believing his blond friend had arrived, he found himself grabbed by the arm and dragged forcibly behind the boulder and thrust behind Heero, who had raised his gun up in a defensive move. The braided teen looked behind him as Wufei latched onto his shoulder to hold him in place, and saw Trowa as he stood behind all of them, his eyes focused on the area where Duo had been moments before on the other side of the stream.

A soft cry was heard as well as the unmistakable sound of someone tumbling down. Heero cautiously stepped out to see their small fifteen year-old, blonde friend sprawled on the ground, his limbs tangled around three duffle bags.

Quatre looked up, seeing movement from the corner of his eye. Color rose in his cheeks as he saw the humor in his friends' eyes at his predicament.

"It's not funny." he insisted with a scowl on his face as he struggled to remove himself from the duffle bags. Trowa was across the stream with an effortless leap and silently offered his help to his friend by separating the bags tangled around Quatre's limbs.

"Are you okay, Quatre?" the Heavyarms' pilot asked, not able to keep the humor he felt at his friends misfortune from his voice.

The Arabian teen glared at him before turning to look with mild horror at his muddy clothing. "Great. Just great!" he spat out with disgust as he tried to flick some of the thick mud from off his pant legs.

"That's okay, Quat. You've got company." Duo smiled and turned around to show the other boy the state of his muddy posterior.

"That's real comforting, Duo." he snarled derisively, uncharacteristically out of sorts. 

"Hey!" The American's eyes widened, surprised and slightly hurt at his friend's out-of-character rebuff.

Heero stepped in to break up the tension that was growing between his teammates. "What took you so long?" he asked the blonde boy. "Did you have any trouble?"

Quatre looked up from the mud plastered to his clothing to the Wing pilot. His eyes widened as they lit on the bandaged arm. "Apparently not as much as you did." he answered, obviously still in a snit, he continued with a frown on his face. "But just try lugging three large duffle bags that weigh more than you do through soggy woods and mud. I left a trail behind that even a blind man could follow."

"Were you followed?" Wufei just had to ask, earning his an uncommon glare from the blonde.

"No!" he replied cooly as he continued to try to remove the mud from off his clothing. "I hailed a taxi and rode around the city for a while to make sure. Then I had the driver drop me off at the train station where I hung around for a while and then caught another taxi to the largest hotel in town, and from there another taxi to a street east of the Autobahn. I walked the rest of the way here, following someone else's footsteps I might add." He looked over to Duo's mud clustered boots then up to the boy's face with a knowing look.

"Well sue me." Duo huffed. "I didn't cause the rain or pick the location." He folded his arms across his chest and stuck his chin up. But this defensive posture only lasted a moment before a smile crept onto the boy's handsome face. He chuckled. "Only you could make an escape in a taxi cab, Quatre."

Heero nodded, pleased at the caution the blond had exercised and that Duo hadn't bated him further into a verbal altercation. "So, for the moment, we're safe." he said to all of them.

Duo snorted. "Yeah, safe. With no food or shelter. Anyone got any money?"

They spent the next ten minutes going through their bags and pockets, pooling their resources while the two muddied boys changed into clean clothing from their duffle bags. Quatre produced from his pockets and duffle a large stash of cash that was equally given and split amongst them amounting to roughly twelve-hundred Euro-Common Market currency for each of them. Heero offered his supply of power bars and raisin granola bars that had escaped Duo's early morning raid, mainly because he didn't like them. They were also equally divided amongst the five. Duo gave the offensive food a look of disgust, but took them anyway, stuffing them into his bag in case of an emergency.

That settled, they perched themselves on the rocks below the waterfall as the afternoon waned and the gathering clouds overhead intermittently blocked out the warm rays of sunshine.

"Do we go our separate ways, or leave together." Wufei asked as he sat cross legged on top of a large round boulder.

"Where should we go?" Trowa inquired quietly.

All eyes turned to Heero who sat next to Quatre with Duo on the other side of Heero stretched out on his back and taking in whatever warmth the fickle afternoon sun would give him. The look on his face was that of contentment, appearing as if he hadn't a care in the world. Heero tapped his leg with his tennis shoe. "Pay attention, baka."

"I am." Though he didn't open his eyes, Duo's eyebrows furrowed a bit, his moment of serenity broken. He hated it when the others called him that name, baka. He wasn't the smartest person in the world, but he certainly wasn't an idiot. He chose to ignore it, and out of stubborn pride he remained in the relaxed position he was in.

Heero gave the unmoving boy a disapproving glare, but it was wasted on the braided teen who didn't bother to open his eyes. "Alright." he turned to the others still watching him. "All of our Gundams are nearby and are in need of service before another battle." The others nodded their agreement. "I think it would be best if we each found ground transport to carry them out of here. I suggest that we leave separately and meet up at Quatre's base in the desert. The Maguanacs can repair any damage sustained and supply us with additional fuel and weapons.

"By ground?" Quatre questioned dubiously. "It's an awfully long way, Heero."

The Wing pilot nodded. "I think we should leave the immediate vicinity by ground to throw off our trackers. OZ is somehow tracing our movements. Unless one of us or our Gundams has acquired a tracer, they have found a way to follow us. I suspect it has to do with the emissions that emanate from the engines. Gundam alloy is very distinctive and could possibly be traced.

"But how did they find the safehouses? How did they know Trowa to follow him?" Quatre asked, his normally serene face was pinched with worry.

Wufei answered. "They've got pictures of Heero and Trowa from the Antarctic duel." he explained. "And I was captured on film when I blew up the training facility that was my first mission. Duo always wears his hat and black, so if they caught him on camera, they probably know only that he has a long brown braid. They might even think he's an underdeveloped, oddly dressed onna." he concluded with a sly grin forming on his lips.

"Hey!" Duo's eyes finally opened. He sat up and put his hands on his hips, his chin lifted indignantly. "I am all boy, Mr. Wuffie, and don't you forget it. I've yet to see a girl heft a grenade like I do, wield a thermal scythe, or hit a target dead on like I do. In fact," his look was clearly a challenge to the Chinese boy. "I don't think even you can match my abilities in those areas. Does that make you an onna?" Duo inwardly smirked as he saw Wufei's eyebrow twitch. Nothing irked the pilot of Shenlong more than being compared to the "weaker sex" as Wufei put it. They all watched as the Chinese boy's humorous chagrin turned instantly to a sneer at Duo's insinuation.

"That's enough." Heero warned seeing the direction their conversation was headed. They all knew by now that when Duo felt unsettled or frustrated he would bate one or all of them into a fight, just to burn off steam. Wufei didn't help anything with his teasing.

The American looked over at his partner and frowned. "Spoil sport." he murmured darkly.

Heero's glare silently warned Duo to behave, or else.

"Alright." he began again, satisfied that things were back in his control. "If we all agree, we'll leave here just before dusk and steal whatever we need to move our Gundam's out. Check it first for any tracking device. I'll head north before I turn southward. Wufei, go west. Trowa, east. Quatre and Duo go south. Wait at least two days before you try to secure any air or sea transport. We need to throw off our trackers until we can recoup and discover how they're doing this." He turned his head to look at his teammates. "If you suspect you are being followed, secure your Gundam and leave it. Are we agreed then?"

There was little discussion after that, but all in all, the five agreed to the plan laid out for them. As the sun lowered and the forested area grew dark, each boy took up his own bag and headed in the direction of his Gundam.

After seeing Heero and Wufei off, Trowa, Quatre and Duo trudged back up the muddy slope to follow the ravine's path back towards the city. Heavyarm's was secured in a storage unit south of the city. Sandrock was nestled, heavily tarped on a transport truck in a Winner Corporation owned warehouse near the city center. Deathscythe was hidden in the woods east of the city, not too far from where they were presently located.

Trowa veered off the path slightly and, from the bushes, pulled out the motorcycle he'd stolen that morning. He offered the other two a ride, but they declined after seeing the narrow seat and the bumpy terrain. Wishing each other well, Trowa departed.

The last two walked companionably together through the darkening woods. "Hey Quatre?" Duo began. "Since we're both to head south, how about we team up? It would be fun to go together for a change."

The blonde boy looked aside to the braided boy with concern. "But Heero said..." he began, only to be cut off.

"He said we were to go south. Duo said adamantly. "And besides, we can pull our resources."

"We've already done that, Duo." Quatre reminded him.

"I don't mean money and stuff, I'm talking about our abilities and resources. We've never been pursued this aggressively before, and you don't have the same skills as I do, nor I yours. I know how to run and hide." he said a bit prideful. "I'm an expert at it."

"I don't know." Quatre replied dubiously. He was worried about what Heero would say if they deviated too much from his instructions. Even at the thought, he chastised himself. He might be the strategist of the group and often the bankroller, but he knew himself well enough to be aware that, by nature, he was a pleaser. He wanted people to be pleased with his work, not disappointed in him or anything he did. He acknowledged to himself that he was the result of being the last child in an obscenely large family that had high expectations for themselves and for him, which he innately tried to fulfill at all costs. His first major step away from that roll of pleaser that his subconscious had set up for him, was when he'd helped O, a brilliant engineer, build Sandrock, then fled his colony in his gundam and left behind his role as a pleaser and his very unhappy pacifist father. He'd come a long way, but it was hard to shake off his natural self and become something more.

"Come on, lets just give it a try. It'll be fun." Duo urged, his eyes sparkled mischievously.

"Oh, alright!" the Arabian gave in with only a little reluctance and a smile.

The two pilots began to walk towards the city again. "Do you think we can piggy-back Deathscythe on your transport?" Duo asked with a smile as his arm wrapped around the blonde's shoulder.

  
  


******

Lady Une rose from her chair, her arms stiff as she leaned on them to peer into the vid-camera attached to the vid phone. "What do you mean you lost them?" she asked in a tone that boded trouble to the man on the receiving end of the baleful glare.

Colonel Braun, not use to being made to feel inadequate or small in a superior's eyes, swallowed hard. "The team made visual contact with one of the pilots in the market place, pilot 03. He seemed to be shopping alone, and we had three Predators on him. He eluded them. The team found the food laden bags he carried, but the pilot was gone. I suspect he detected them and fled to warn the others." he explained their failure.

"This is not the sort of report I want to hear, Colonel Braun. I had hoped that your team would have learned from their first attempts and mistakes." Une hissed as she calmed down enough to resume her seat, though her eyes still bore malevolently into the camera.

The man on the screen continued. "A short time later as we continued our search of the market place, we spotted pilot 01 scouting the area. When he realized we'd tagged him, he ran. A chase ensure and Ghost managed to get a shot off that wounded him. Just a graze, not a mortal wound." he was quick to add knowing the directive was to take them alive and with little damage to them. "But even wounded, the boy escaped." He shook his head slightly. "I've never seen anyone as elusive as these pilots." he added.

"My confidence in you and your team is waning, Colonel." The bespeckled woman frowned in disapproval.

"Sorry, Mam." he said crisply. "But we believe they're still in the area. We found a Gundam quite by accident when a hunter called the police station to report he'd discovered one while hunting rabbit in the woods northwest of the city. Half of my team is there laying a trap, the other half is organizing a shut-down of the city and a search that will begin at 2100 hours." he reported, hoping to salvage some of the Predator's reputation in the powerful woman's eyes.

"A trap?" Her eyes brightened slightly. "Very well." she nodded in approval. "Proceed as planned and keep me updated."

"Yes Mam." the Colonel saluted.

"And Colonel Braun," she seemed to crawl through the communication and grab him by the throat with the cool steel of her voice. "don't disappoint me again."

The seasoned soldier was relieved as the connection was cut and Colonel Une's face disappeared from his portable vid phone. He rubbed his face with his hands trying to get back to where his mind needed to be, that being, capturing the Gundam pilots. He picked up a communicator and changed to the frequency his team used. He would alert them to the necessity of not failing this assignment or they would all have to answer to the powerful woman's unpredictable anger.

TBC


	3. Part 3

Disclaimer: I don't own GW nor profit from writing about its characters. 

  
  


Educating Quatre

By: Dyna Dee

Part 3

  
  


The rain began as a gentle drizzle graduating to a light shower as the sun set inconspicuously behind the dark horizon and the grey blanketed sky just as the two teens stepped out from the woods and onto the city street. The north side of the city was calm as the day closed, the weather keeping most of it's citizens in their homes. As businesses closed, customers and workers quickly headed to the shelter of their cars or buses. The two bedraggled-looking boys took shelter in a little hole-in-the-wall type café, ordered a modest dinner, then continued ordering sporadically in order to linger in the corner booth until closing time. A few of the other patrons eyed them with disapprovingly stares at their boots and pant cuffs that were covered with clumps of dark-caked mud. Yet for the most part, they were ignored and left to themselves. Duo's watch confirmed the time as being nine-thirty by the time they stepped out into the cool night air, the rain had temporarily stopped.

They found out by asking a passer-by that the buses ran only until eleven, and that they came to this area once an hour after seven p.m., and having had just missed the last bus by five minutes, they decided to walk in a southernly direction, towards the city center. Strolling side by side and keeping to the shadows as Duo directed, the two drew steadily closer to the hub of the city, bypassing groups of people clumped together for either purpose of protection or darker intentions that had Duo glaring at them with suspicion. In the course of their late evening walk, his friendly demeanor changed to become more of a protector to the other boy. Quatre let him take the lead as he knew little of the dark strangers lurking in the shadows and underbelly-side of city life.

The growing rumblings of large trucks moving towards them came from behind them, and as they approached with their bright headlight flaring into the dark streets, Duo grabbed hold of his friend and roughly pushed him into the sheltering deep shadows of a building's entryway.

"What?" Quatre hissed unhappily, rubbing the aching shoulder that had impacted hard against the brick wall Duo had flung him into.

"Look." Duo's voice hissed low and dangerous.

Several large military troop transport trucks rumbled down the street with red lights silently flashing other motorists to move out of the way. The fourth truck stopped at the end of the block and four soldiers immediately jumped out of the back. One of them hit the side of the truck with the butt of his rifle, and the vehicle sped off. The two boys watched as the four soldiers split into two groups and separated to opposite sides of the street and began their systematic search.

"Damn, a city-wide lock down." Duo whispered tersely. "We gotta get out of here." Taking up the wrist of the blonde boy, the Deathscythe pilot pulled him out of the shadows and quickly led him back the way they'd just come, then cutting into the dark recesses of the alleyways.

The were both a bit breathless when at last they came to a stop in the deep shadows of an alley and crouched down next to a horrible smelling receptacle that Quatre guessed it could only be a commercial garbage container. Duo pulled him close to his body and whispered into his ear. "We're not gonna be able to get Sandrock out of here as long as the city is in military lock down."

Quatre nodded his agreement. "Do we hide or leave?" he whispered back.

His partner pondered their options, scratching his head as he thought. "I think we should hide out here in the city, at least for a day or two and see if things go back to normal." he replied in a hushed voice. "Wufei doesn't seem to think Oz knows what the two of us look like, and they did only tag Trowa this afternoon." he reasoned. "I think the both of us could blend into the general population until things cool down."

The blonde seriously contemplated Duo's plan. "What if they saw me leave the safe house? They'll know what I look like and your hair could give you away." he whispered, gently voicing his concerns.

Duo frowned and pulled his braid over his shoulder stroking it. "I won't cut it." Though Sandrock's pilot couldn't see the American's face, his voice gave evidence of the stubborn pout that was probably there.

"Just hide it." he replied, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. He heard the rustle of material and knew Duo had repositioned his braid inside his shirt. 

"Done." he announced. "Now, got any ideas where we should hide?"

Quatre's brow furrowed as he thought. "If we can get to the warehouse Sandrock is stored in, we could stay inside the cockpit." he suggested.

"No, I'm sure they'll be searching any place we could possibly hide the Gundams. Besides," he snorted. "do you really want to be cramped in that cockpit with someone else for a couple of days?" Duo snorted derisively. "Doesn't sound like a picnic to me."

"Do you think they'll find Sandrock?" the blonde gasped at the thought.

"I don't think so." Duo replied. "They'll probably be on the hunt for us instead of the Gundams, since they were hot on our trail today. If they use typical OZ searching tactics, they'll first search all transports going out of the city and maybe some sections of the city, trying not to intrude too much on the citizens. Bad P.R." he shrugged. "Since we're staying here, the odds are pretty high that they won't find us if we're careful.

"I hope you're right." Quatre said worriedly. He then thought back to their problem of where to hide out. "I don't suppose we could stay at a hotel?" he asked hopefully, as that was the easiest solution he could come up with.

"No, I don't think it would be safe. That's one of the places they're sure to check." Duo answered. "And two teenagers sharing a room would be like waving a red flag held up by the stupid stick, pointing them right to us."

"I have an uncle, my mother's brother, that works here in the city. Maybe I could contact him and we could stay there."

"An uncle?" Duo sounded surprised. "Does he live in the city?"

"No, he lives about twenty minutes away in a suburb."

"That's too far." Duo answered with a regretful sigh. "I think we need to stay close to our Gundams and escape at the first possible moment. The others will be worried when if don't rendezvous when they expect us to."

The both sat in contemplative silence for a few moments.

"I have to admit, Duo," Quatre spoke softly. "I don't have a lot of experience at hiding in a city. I think I should defer to your better judgement since you know more about running and hiding."

"Alright." Duo said in a quietly bright tone, accepting the responsibility. "Where's the last place you'd look for two fifteen-year-old boys?"

"The library?"

Despite their need to keep quiet, Duo barked out a quiet laugh. "Well, this fifteen year old anyway." 

"Think, Quatre." he continued, still chuckling. "Where is the least likely place to find someone our age?"

"I suppose places where we're considered underage."

"Right!" Duo patted his companion on the shoulder for his correct answer

"What are you thinking, Duo?" the blonde's worry was transmitted in his voice.

"Trust me, Quatre. I'll hide us." Duo promised with confidence, and fumbling around, found and caught up his friend's wrist again and led him away from their smelly hiding spot. Thus the two began their search, staying to the dark alleys and byways to hide their presence from all but those who lived within the shadows. Duo was ever alert for them, he even seemed to have a sixth sense about them, and gave them wide berth not being able to judge in the darkness the harmless from the lurking dangerous ones.

Quatre sensed that they were near the city center, though this was a part of the city's community he'd never experienced before. A shudder rippled through him as he realized that what he was seeing and hearing was most decidedly a dark part of the underbelly of the affluent community he was more familiar with, one that bustled daily with transactions, mergers, and business suits. As they passed through the darkness, the open windows and doorways revealed raucous laughter and loud music that filtered into the deep-shadowed city streets, revealing ample evidence of some unsavory activities happening within. It dawned on him that this was a part of life he'd been successfully sheltered from. He'd heard whispering all his life of such an environment existing on the lower streets of even the most prestigious communities; a dark seedy place where people did things not spoken of in front of children, but nevertheless served as a warning to them repeatedly of the inherent dangers of such places. And now he was coming face to face with the opposite side of society from which he'd been raised. 

As Duo led him with a strange sort of bold confidence born of familiarity, he realized with a start that this was the life Duo and Trowa had known most of their young lives. Living in the shadows of a city and of society as they fought to survive as orphans and sought out an existence amongst other unfortunates. The sights, sounds, and smells so foreign to him, were considered familiar to his two closest friends. At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to grab Duo into a sheltering embrace and pull him away to the soft, safe environment he'd grown up in. He fought down the strong urge along with the unease he'd felt amongst the iniquitous shadows, and firmly strengthened his resolve. He'd always believed that things happened for a reason, and that this was important for him to experience, he told himself firmly. He resolved to himself that he would learn from this underbelly of society, and from all the experiences that what would come to them in the next few days. He'd let Duo lead, to educate him to something so foreign to the heir of the Winner fortunes; how to survive when you have nothing and no one to count on but yourself.

However, his resolve and steps faltered as he was pulled down an alleyway where garish lights, booming music, raucous laughter, and cigarette smoke spilled from open doorways that were liberally littered with men and women in scanty clothing and in various poses of lounging while smoking and drinking on the stairways. 

The American turned and gave him a reassuring smile. "Just follow my lead." he whispered with a wink, trying to keep his manner light and ease his friend's obvious discomfort, secretly hoping that Quatre would soon release the painful death grip on his arm.

As they approached the lit doorway of one establishment, Quatre observed the scantily dressed women and men lounging on the back stoop and leaning against the dark brick walls. The red glow of cigarettes moved in slow motion, upwards, pausing for a moment for a long drag on dark lipstick painted lips, brightening the red glowing tip of the rolled tobacco, then lowering in an almost lethargic manner back down. The fingers owning those slow moving cigarettes were painted in deep shades of red, blue, or black, colors of the night. The eyes that followed their approach seemed barely curious, but all in all, dull and lifeless, as if they'd never seen the glories of the sun and earth during the day, but only the dark side of the night.

Quatre clutched Duo's arm and his duffle bag closer to his body as they stopped in front of the steps of this particular establishment and its occupants, and the eyes of all the lingerer's turned with dull curiosity to see what the two boys wanted.

Duo carefully selected his target, an older woman, maybe late thirties, early forties. She stood looking down in an haughty manner at them from the top stair. Her posture and position on the steps clearly marked her as having rank and seniority over the others. This was the person he would deal with, the one that most likely would decide if they could pass into the back doorway to this questionable establishment.

Half-lidded violet eyes met her dark suspicious ones, but for only a fraction of a moment before he lowered his head. He knew Quatre would play his part naturally, being that of being the wide eyed, shocked, and scared innocent. The braided boy carefully stepped over sprawled limbs of the on-lookers as he climbed the five steps situating himself and his clinging partner one step below the frowning woman.

"What do you boys want?" she asked with a dismissive, bored tone while flicking the long glowing ashes from the tip of her cigarette. "You should be home in your beds."

"Please, Mam." Duo began, his voice sounding young and vulnerable. "We need a place to stay. There are soldiers all over the streets and.." he looked up, hoping his eyes looked properly pleading. "If you have some chores my friend and I could do, we would be happy to do it if we could just rest for the night. We'd really be grateful." He said wanting the look on his face to look desperate enough to get her pity.

Her dark, heavily made-up eyes narrowed as she studied them. "You two runaways?" she asked, her casual tone gave them reason to believe that she'd heard the same story a hundred times before.

"Well," Duo went for mournful. "I'm an orphan, a street kid, ya know?" With his hand still firmly gripped to Quatre's wrist, he pulled the blonde boy forward for his unique introduction. The Arabian's body was pulled against the side of Duo's, and the Deathscythe pilot put a protective arm around his friend.

"My friend here had to run away from his lecherous, sick stepfather. He's a military guy, high up in the ranks of OZ." Duo continued. He knew this woman had probably heard every sob story in the book, but he was counting on the fact that most women in her position were soft when it came to runaways, as from his days on the streets of L-2 he knew many in this profession had been there themselves, and when love was mentioned, they usually listened with their hearts. As he continued, he hoped his friend would forgive him and not set the Maguanacs out to kill him for what he was about to insinuate.

"He wanted to take him away from me and keep him locked up for his own..... pleasure." he let a look of disgust filter across his features. He allowed his eyes to water and his lips to tremble as he looked up pleadingly at the woman. 'Damn, but I'm a good actor.', the boy mentally patted himself on the back. "Please, we just need a place to rest until the military leaves, then I can take care of him."

He forced himself not to move or wince as his friend viciously pinched the inside of his upper arm where his right hand had been clutching, the only place he could reach at the moment. That was gonna bruise something fierce, Duo thought briefly as he carefully watched the woman for her reaction. He noted that her previously hard eyes and bitter frown now softened, especially after she looked over at Quatre. Duo turned his head just slightly to see his blonde friend's eyes wide with apparent apprehension. To his credit, Quatre played the part that was required of him, he leaned forward and pressed his head against Duo's shoulder as if seeking safety and being weary.

"Stay here while I talk to Sly." the woman ordered in a brusk tone, she then turned and disappeared into the room with garish lights and noise.

Duo felt Quatre try to move away, but he held him firmly in place with his arm over his shoulders. "Hold the illusion just a little while longer and we'll be fine." he whispered, and was reassured that Quatre understood when he let his head fall once again against his shoulder.

"I'm gonna kill you, Duo." The quiet whisper was barely audible, but the threat behind it was real.

"Okay, but after we're safely inside." he replied just as quietly.

After several minutes, a middle-aged, round man with a bizarre style of thinning dark hair that had been meticulously and craftily swirled around his balding head in an attempt to hide his great lack of hair on his crown, stood in the doorway, inspecting the two. When he spoke, his voice came out rather high and squeaky.

"Cherry told me your problem." he said as he folded his arms across his considerable middle. He eyes traveled up and down Duo and taking in as much of the blonde boy who was partially hidden behind him. "I've got a room in the attic that's sometimes used as a place for the girls to sleep when they can't make it home. It's yours for the night if you can contribute to my establishment tonight."

Duo looked the man squarely, his brows lowering as he frowned. "What do you want us to do?" he asked, uncertain that he wanted to know what was going on in this sleezeball's brain.

The man gave a wily smile. "This is an establishment for entertainment, and dancing is the featured act." He eyes again look appreciatively over the two handsome boys. "If you two perform a dance on the stage, you can have the attic for the night."

Duo felt Quatre stiffen against him and he tried to pull his body away in protest of what was being asked of them. "We don't know how to do that." Duo told him as he held his friend in place.

"I haven't met a kid yet that can't dance." the man's eyes seemed to be laughing at them. "Can you dance?" he asked, leaning closer to Duo's face and was close enough for the American to smell the stink of cigar and alcohol on the man.

"Kind of." he answered, unsure of what the man was really asking.

"Well," the man looked thoughtfully at Quatre, smiled as he straightened. "All I'll expect is that you two dance on stage, you know, teenage dancing, together, and strip down to your boxers. That's all. No one will touch you, and you don't have to do anything other than dance.

The American was hard pressed to hold onto the Arabian boy who wanted nothing but to run from this whole situation.

"One dance and then you promise no one will bother us?" Duo asked, knowing from past experience how important it was to have the terms of their verbal contract laid out in front of witnesses, even though their witnesses were the employees sitting on the steps.

"You got it." the man looked smug, knowing it was too tempting an offer for homeless runaways to pass by.

"Well, okay, we'll do it." Duo answered unhappily for the two of them.

"Then come on in." the man stepped aside and smiled broadly like the cat that ate the canary, and motioned for the two boys to enter before him.

TBC


	4. Part 4

Educating Quatre

By: Dyna Dee

Part 4

Warnings: Hey, they're in a strip club, some language and bickering.

"Don't be nervous, you're safe here." Sly said in a way that was suppose to be reassuring, but sounded slimy to the two nervous boys.

"Said the spider to the fly." Quatre muttered under his breath, and then repeated aside to his friend his earlier threat. "I'm going to kill you Duo."

"You sound like Heero." Duo whispered back. He'd hoped to make a joke of it, but knowing how uncomfortable Quatre was by this whole situation, he just couldn't pull it off with a smile.

"Dance first, then I'll show you to the room." Swirlhead, as Duo silently renamed the man, said as he waddled ahead of them towards the side wings of the stage. From the gap between the curtains and the backdrop of the stage, the entire stage front was visible to the two boys. In front of them they could now clearly see two women in the bright spotlight obviously busy entertaining what sounded like a room full of very enthusiastic men. They wore little, and what did cover them looked like lacy, skimpy underwear while several pieces of pastel, diaphanous material lay haphazardly on the stage floor. Both women danced temptingly, smiling seductively into the audience. There were a few tangible words of "More!" and "Take it all off!" from audience, and the rest of the voices beyond the music sounded like loud incoherent catcalls coming from the most likely, prominently male audience.

"What kind of music do you want?" Sly asked with a grin was he watched the dumb-struck expression on the boy's faces at the sight of the ladies on stage.

"S..s...s.something with a rock beat and short." Duo managed to choke out, his eyes still glued to the two dancing and scantily clad women.

The man chuckled. "Your up next then. I'll get the music squared with our sound tech. You give me a good show and I'll have some food sent up, alright?

Duo nodded absently and Quatre looked completely stunned, his eyes still fixated on the two dancing women.

"Oh," Sly stopped and turned back to them. "What are your names? I'll need to introduce you." 

The two boys looked at each other. Duo smiled crookedly. "He's Little One."

Quatre's eyes narrowed at the hated nick name he'd been taunted with by his sisters and then Trowa and the other pilots. He was no shorter than the rest of them, well okay, Trowa was the exception. He raised his eyes to the man and with a nod towards Duo declared, "He's Asshole"

Duo groaned and slapped his forehead with his open hand. Man, what a time for Quatre to expand his vocabulary and sarcasm, he thought. "You can't give me that name." he said firmly. "In a place like this it could have a double meaning. Chose another one."

The blonde looked thoughtful for a moment, then with a knowing look entering his eyes and he leaned over and whispered into Sly's ear, bringing a frown to the braided boy. With a bark of laughter the big guy slapped Quatre on the back and turned to finish his business.

Suddenly, Quatre's smile faded as he glanced out on the stage where the women continued to seductively gyrate, suddenly realizing what he was being asked to do in just a few moments. "Duo..." he whispered, his voice small and unsure. "I...I don't think I can do this." His face flushed with embarrassment and anger at the position he was being put into.

Duo lowered his shoulder bag to the floor and took the Arabian's bag from off his shoulder and put them slightly behind the curtain and next to the wall, hidden in the shadows. Believing them safe, he then turned to address his friend.

"I know this is not something you've ever had to do before Quatre, but really, there are worse things people have had to do to survive. This is just a dance, just like in the kitchen when we do dishes, only this time we'll do our dancing in our boxers, on stage." He was sure Quatre must have heard his loud and difficult attempt to swallow. He wasn't all that comfortable with this either.

"Couldn't we just pay him for the room?" The blonde glared, knowing they had ample money.

"First rule of the streets, Quatre, is to never let anyone know you've got money. They bought into our being runaways, and runaways never squander what little money they have, but keep it for emergencies. If we offer to pay, they'll become suspicious of our story."

"I hate this." the Arabian hissed darkly, slamming his fists into his pant's pockets.

"Just keep your eyes on me and follow my lead." the braided teen tried to ease his friend's nervousness. "Hell, just close your eyes and imagine yourself in your own room or in the kitchen with me and the others."

"It degrading Duo."

"Yes, yes it is." the braided boy's voice took on a harsher tone. "But a lot of people are forced to this. Do you really think the people who work here planned on doing this for a career?" his voice rose slightly in a bitter tone. "I know you don't like it, but we're not hiding among the social elite here, Quatre. This is but another aspect of life that a pampered little rich boy knows nothing about, and we're being asked to work for their offered shelter." His eyes narrowed, matching Quatre's warning glare. "If you're too good to lower yourself, then step aside and I'll do whatever I have to in order to keep your billionaire ass safe."

The two friends bristled with a very rare and barely contained hostility towards each other. Duo continued. "A lot of these people are like Trowa and I, people cast out or deserted to fend for themselves. They're not privileged to have loving parents and money coming out of their ears and solving all their problems." He motioned out to the women on the stage. "A lot of these women have children they're desperately trying to support, and having no other means then degrading themselves for those who have the money to pay for what remains of their shredded self respect. They took us in because they identified with the plight I laid out for them, and this is what they offered us. Are you too good to do what is required, or would you rather sleep in the dark alleyways with the other unfortunates of society?"

Quatre looked away from Duo's uncommon glare of anger and disappointment. He was being a snob and he knew it, but this was so unfamiliar to him, so uncomfortable. "There must be some other alternative." he suggested.

"Not without compromising ourselves or our alibi. OZ is combing the streets, Quatre. Do you honestly think they'll come looking for a couple of teenagers in here?"

The Arabian moved to speak, but his mouth opened and shut several times. Duo was right, he'd not been in a situation before where money or his credit card hadn't solved any problem before him. He'd always had his families resources to rely on. His gundam, safehouses, warehouses, the Maguanacs, supplies and repairs were all at his disposal due to his name and the money backing it. 'Damn' he swore to himself. 'I am the spoiled brat Duo has been alluding to since we approached this....place.' With a returning resolve, again he vowed to himself that tonight he would step into Duo's world and learn from this experience. He'd do what ever was required......within reason, of course. He swallowed his considerable pride and conceded to the inevitable. "Alright. I'll follow your lead."

The American took hold of his friend's shoulders and waited for the large blue eyes to look at him. "I know this is hard for you, Quatre. But it's the only thing I could come up with at the spur of the moment. It'll be okay, I promise. This isn't the first time I've had to do something like this, but you do get over it."

The admission from Duo startled the Arabian. He knew bits and pieces of the life of the boy from L-2, but he never imagined this seedy existence truly being part of it, especially when Duo was so young. By Allah, they were fifteen years old, and he wondered what his friend had to endure just to stay alive on that horrible colony. He swallowed hard and nodded.

They both looked out onto the stage only to have their mouths simultaneously drop open. The women on the stage were reaching back to slowly draw out the process of undoing their bras. Quatre's wide blue eyes were suddenly covered by a moist palm pressing flat against them. Reaching his hand up, he fumbled his hand up Duo's arm to match the movement, successfully covering Duo's eyes, and the both of the chuckled in amusement.

The roar of the crowd signaled the end of the dance on the stage, and moments later the sound of the two women coming off the stage caused the boys to separate and blink their eyes into focus. Both sets of eyes watched the women come to the shelter of the side stage with toothy smiles and an armful of their discarded clothing covering their chests with one arm as they waved to their appreciative audience with the other. Once behind the stage, however, their smiles dropped and a dullness came into their eyes as they reached for their robes hanging on hooks next to the stage to cover their nearly bare bodies. Quatre turned his eyes away to give them privacy and, hoping with a blush that he wasn't caught staring as Duo's words hit home with more impact. These women clearly didn't like doing this, it was a job that they did with little pleasure just to survive.

Straightening his shoulders, he waited just off stage with his friend close by his side filled with feelings of nervousness, dread, and a determination that he would show Duo in the next few moments that he was no milk toast. He was a gundam pilot and not a shrinking, "billionaire-ass" pilot that had to be taken care of. He would make his friend proud of him and, to him, that was of utmost importance. He knew that to Duo and other pilots, his money was not why they associated with him. They cared for him as a comrade and as a friend they could count on and trust. How many people in his financial position could say that? Those friendships were priceless to him, and he would not risk losing that friendship because of his stupid pride. If Duo needed him to do this, than he would do it.

The music changed and the bass from the surprisingly good sound system boomed loudly, sending reverberations through the wood floor. Duo turned with a weak encouraging smile to his friend. They both knew the song and it was a good one to dance to. "Just keep your eyes on me and we'll dance like in the kitchen. Follow my lead when we start to.....um...take off our clothes." Duo looked nervously out onto the stage. "We better take off our shoes and socks, I think it'll look weird to be out there fumbling to take them off so we can get our pants off." he surmised sounding as nervous as he suddenly looked. 

Quickly removing their still slightly muddy footwear and putting them to the side, they heard Sly's voice coming over the speakers from a hidden sound room. "Let's give a warm welcome for two newcomers to our stage. Let's hear it for Little One and Tiny Dick." 

Quatre winced. It seemed funny at the time, but now Duo's eyes looked like he'd swallowed his tongue. Then abruptly, someone behind them pushed the both of them out into the bright spotlights. They stumbled rather stiffly and nervously to the center of the stage. The music was loud, but not loud enough to block out the sounds of encouragement from the audience below them, barely visible as the room was dark and the stage lights were blindingly bright.

Duo seemed to come out of his numbness first and grabbed hold of Quatre's hand and, pulling him forward, spun him under his arm a couple of times, then released him, just like when they danced in the kitchen while doing dishes. They faced each other and started to dance, trying to let the beat of the music guide their movements and shut out the caterwauling audience urging them on.

Moments later, Duo caught his blonde friend's eye and moved to unbutton his black shirt. Quatre followed his movements with his own garments. They paced the removal of their clothing to the song and three quarters of the way through, they stood on a stage, in front of a group of strangers, blushing fiercely in their boxers. The catcalls to go further made both boys blanch, and sensing the audience wouldn't be satisfied that this was as far as they intended to go, Duo reached back for his braid and brought it forward. He slowly removed the rubber band and in a slow as possible manner, began to undo the braid as he danced. Quatre continued to dance in his unique Arabian style, but his eyes stayed on Duo's face as the American slid his fingers through his long tresses, and once unbound, he flung the mass behind his shoulder and shook his head to allow the burnished, chestnut mane to untangle and lay in a glorious rippled array down his back to the top of his thighs. Perfectly timed, the music can to an end and the audience clapped with appreciation, though not with as much enthusiasm as the women before them. Both blushing boys quickly picked up their clothing and ran off the stage without a wave of thanks to the audience.

They both dressed quickly and in silence, scurrying to cover themselves from the appreciative glances from the next set of dancers waiting for their cue to go on.

"Great job boys." the manager beamed a genuine smile at them as he approached and the next song began to play over the sound system. "Get your things and I'll show you to your room." the older man shouted over the din.

Silently both boys retrieved their hidden bags and followed the man as he laboriously struggled up the two flights of stairs. They listened with shared amused smiles to the huffing, puffing, and slight wheezing coming from the large man as he climbed the steep stairs with great effort. Standing in the darkened hallway on the third floor, Sly paused to catch his breath, then reached up to pull down a rope hanging from the ceiling, revealing a large wet spot under his arm. The boys exchanged a grimace of distaste at the sight. Pulling on the rope, an opening appeared in the ceiling above them as the lid lowered, a ladder could be seen attached to it. Sly reached up again and pulled the lowest rung of the ladder down, allowing it to fold out, extending it down to a foot above the floor.

"There ya go fellas." Sly announced a bit breathy. "Get settled in and I'll have one of the girls get some food for you."

Both boys nodded and only Duo looked the man in the eye to ascertain his honesty.

"No one else will bother us, right?" He asked as a reminded to their verbal agreement.

"You have my word." the swirled haired man promised in all seriousness.

Duo nodded and Sly motioned for them to climb up the ladder. He then turned and made his way down the dreaded stairs.

The two pilots stood looking at the dark room they'd just earned and quickly discovered a light overhead, which Quatre turned on immediately by pulling on a long, dangling string attached to a short chain. With the space brightly illuminated, they surveyed the room. It was surprisingly clean of dust or cobwebs with a double bed topped with several folded blankets, sheets, and two uncovered pillows. There was a short table at the bottom of the bed that looked to serve as a catch all.

"Not too bad." Duo surmised out loud, nodding his head in approval. 

The Arabian went to the bed, dropped his bag on the floor, and flopped down bonelessly on the unmade mattress. He hadn't realized until that moment how very tired he was.

"I'm sorry Quatre." Duo said softly contrite as he approached the bed. "I never meant for you to feel degraded. As I said, it's not new to me, but it doesn't mean I like it either."

The blonde teen turned to watch his friend as he cautiously approached, his eyes registering his sadness. "No, I'm the one to apologize Duo. I'm sorry."

The Deathscythe pilot looked confused. "What for?"

Quatre sighed. 'For being a spoiled little rich kid and for not understanding or having any empathy when you needed me to."

With a frown, Duo sat on the bed next to his friend, his face slightly pinched. "Don't ever be sorry you had a nice childhood Quatre. Just because I didn't doesn't mean I would want to wish that on anyone else, least of all you."

The Arabian's hand gently touched the other boys arm. "There's so much you can teach me Duo, about compassion, empathy, and understanding. You're right, you know, I know virtually nothing of this side of life. It's quite an education I'm getting today.

The braided boy looked into his friends sincere face. "It's okay to learn about this side of life, to try and understand it, and maybe even help." he said in all seriousness. "Just don't ever have to live it. It's a hard, hard life."

They sat in silence for a few minutes as Duo began to re-braid his hair and they listened to the music from the bar below as it reverberated through the building and drifted up to their attic room. The thoughts going through their heads were interrupted by a knock on the wooden ladder.

"Dinner!" a feminine voice called out.

Duo went to the opening as the head of a young woman whose face was heavily made up popped into view through the opening. She lifted a brown bag up for them to see the validity of her announcement as she quickly took stock of both boys.

"Here, I'll take it." Duo reached down to accept the bag from her with a grateful smile. In her mid-twenties, the woman smiled at him as she lifted her arms and rested them on the attic floor, her eyes studying the long haired boy. Her loose robe slipped, revealing quite an impressive display of rounded flesh and cleavage. "Hey, you're cute." she declared with a wink at Duo.

"Ah....thanks." he muttered back, blushing as he brought his arm up to scratch nervously at the back of his head and tried hard not to stare at the white exposed flesh.

"The boss ordered this and said to eat hardy." she told them with a flirtatious smile, seeming to enjoy his embarrassment. "I'm to shut the door in a half hour to keep you safe. There's a bathroom over there." she motioned down to the floor below and behind her. "Use it before then so you won't have to stumble through the dark later."

Duo nodded, "Thank you." he smiled at her tremulously. Returning it briefly, she looked down to find the next rung on the ladder to climb down. 

"You're welcome." she replied with a casual wave of her hand, then stopped and smiled at each boy. "Oh, by the way, I'm Nan. Which one of you is Tiny Dick?" she giggled. 

Both boy's pointed to each other saying, "He is." at the same time. They could still hear her laughing as she continued down the ladder and then down the stairs.

They ate the hamburgers and milkshakes provided, used the restroom, and were in the newly made bed when the door was shut a half hour later.

Bidding each other goodnight, the two boys faced away from each other and fell into an exhausted sleep, in spite of the music that continued to blare into the late night.

TBC


	5. Part 5

Educating Quatre

By: Dyna Dee

Part 5

The dark of the attic and the lack of noise in the early hours of the morning lulled the two boys into a long, much needed sleep. The last three weeks of fleeing pursuers and relocating had taken a toll on all the teenage pilots.

The sound of the ladder door being pulled down awoke the Sandrock pilot with a start from a deep sleep. He became aware of an unfamiliar weight draped across him, then his memory kicked in....Duo. Pulling his pinned arm out from the tangle of covers, he removed the thick braid of hair from off his eyes.

"Well isn't that cute", a vaguely familiar male voice chuckled from the far end of the room. Swirl Head, as Duo had dubbed the manager, was standing on the top of the ladder breathing heavily from the effort to climb the stairs and ladder. From his waist up he appeared in all his round, sweaty glory into the attic. "Rise and shine boys, it's past noon." he huffed out cheerfully.

"Noon!" Quatre sat up in a shot despite having Duo draped across him. The Deathscythe pilot rolled onto his back and slowly woke up.

"Um.....sorry man, what's up?" the braided teen was definitely not oriented yet as he yawned, stretched and rubbed at his eyes with his fist. Duo was definitely not a morning person.

"Past noon and the manager is here." Quatre informed his bedmate.

"Duo's lips formed an "o" and he quickly sat up. His eyes focused immediately on Sly's head, bringing a barely concealed smirk to his lips as he noticed every minuscule dark hair on the man's head was again strategically placed and plastered down onto the wide shining expanse of skin on the top of his head.

"Morning Sly." Duo yawned and finished his stretch, careful to miss hitting the boy next to him.

"I'm guessing you want us out of here, right?" Quatre asked and was tempted to get up, but he didn't want to stand up in his boxers in front of this man.

"Soldiers are still out there, searching for a group of teen terrorists, Gundam pilots." Sly said with a curious eye on both of them. "By any chance are they looking for you guys?" 

There was a pause before Duo spoke up. "Us?" He chuckled. "You think we're Gundam pilots?" Laughter bubbled up easily from his throat and Quatre smiled at it. "He thinks we're terrorists!" Duo laughed and threw his arm around the blond indicating to the Sandrock pilot to play along. They held onto each other as they both openly laughed as if Sly's words were the funniest thing they'd ever heard.

"Alright, alright." Swirl Head chuckled at the apparent ridiculousness of his question. "It was a long shot, but I thought I'd ask."

Duo pulled back from Quatre to look at the chagrined man, a smile on his face as his laughter died down. "That's okay man. I don't always wake up to a good laugh." he said wiping moisture from his eyes.

"Well, as I said, the streets are still filled with soldiers." the man sobered a bit. "There's a group of six that I saw co-ordinating the search this morning in this area. I suppose you want to avoid them?"

Quatre nodded, his eyes wide. "Were you told why?" he asked, wondering if the lady at the door had given him their whole bogus story.

"Yeah," the man nodded his head. "Cherry told me. Unfortunately, your story is hardly unique. I get at least five boys a month with a similar, though different story." he replied sadly.

Quatre and Duo exchanged a look; maybe they had misjudged this man. "Do you do this often then? Take in runaways?" Quatre asked.

Sly shrugged casually. "Yeah, most of us in this business had our own rough beginning. We've got a soft spot for kids like you."

"Well, thank you for your kindness." Quatre said with all sincerity on behalf of Duo, himself, and the children who this man had helped.

The man nodded. "Tell you what." he began with a slight smile returning. "I've got some dishes to wash downstairs and general clean up. If you want to stay another night or so, that's how you can pay it off. I can see blondie here isn't all that comfortable on stage."

"No, he's not." Duo spoke up, flinging his arm across Quatre's shoulders. "But he did a decent job anyway." he said as an off-handed compliment for his friend's effort.

"That he did." Sly agreed with a nod to the blonde.

"Can we let you know in a few minutes about staying?" Quatre asked. "I think we need to talk about it before we decide."

The large man looked surprised that his offer might be turned down. "Well, sure. I'll be in the bar area. Come find me and I'll get you something to eat." With a wave, the older man disappeared from sight.

"He's really quite decent." Quatre observed aloud as he turned to Duo who immediately began to scoot over to his own side of the small bed, giving the Arabian his space.

"You know," Quatre's eyes narrowed as he spoke. "With your innuendos and the way he found us sleeping, they're all going to think we're...., we're...a.."

"A couple." Duo snickered.

"Exactly!"

"That's the whole idea." Duo pulled back the covers and reached for his jeans and began to slip them on.

"Why on Earth do you want them to think that?" the blond looked incredulous at him, his voice raised in alarm.

"Because it works here." he answered, then continued slipping his shirt on over his head and casually continued. "These people are cynical about love and relationships. But deep down, they hope that love will find them one day. It's their hope that someone can love them despite their looks, bodies, ability to dance or turn tricks. Deep down, everyone needs and wants to be loved. If they believe we are star-crossed lovers running from an evil step-father, they'll bend over backwards to help us."

With owlish wide eyes, Quatre stared at his friend with new eyes. Impressed with his understanding of people, he determined to glean what he could from his friend.

"Come on Quatre, get dressed. I'm hungry." Duo complained mildly as he reached for a brush from his bag and then for the end of his frazzled braid. 

After a brief discussion, they decided to accept Sly's generous offer, deciding this was probably the safest place they could hide in the locked down city. They worked in the kitchen during the day, and by early evening the customers started to filter in and the music, a constant in the background after four o'clock in the afternoon, was turned up and the lights dimmed.

Cherry approached the two boys who were carrying out clean glasses to the bar in preparation for the night. She instructed them to go back up into the loft as they were expecting soldiers to be in attendance tonight.

"Thanks, Cherry." Duo smiled warmly at the woman and Quatre noticed that the cynical mask she wore on her face softened in reaction to it. She reached out and ruffled the chestnut colored bangs affectionately.

"You flirt." she chided him gently.

Duo chuckled then sobered. "Do me a favor Cherry?"

The woman's face stiffened again.

"Just keep an ear out. Let me know what the soldiers are talking about."

A look of relief flashed on her face, and Quatre wondered what she thought Duo was going to ask. Whatever it was, he didn't. She nodded her agreement and pushed them both towards the stairs, promising dinner would be sent up again.

Nan, the girl who had brought them food for the last two nights, woke them up the next morning. She was sitting on the edge of the bed and watching the two with amusement as Quatre disentangled himself from the braided octopus. "Quite the cuddler, isn't he?" she asked with humor sparkling in her eyes that were now void of the heavy makeup she wore at night.

The Arabian rolled his eyes as he managed to sit up and shifted to straighten his tee shirt.

"The girls and I heard some rumors from the soldiers last night." The girl's words brought the blond boy's sluggish mind to full alertness. He reached down and shook his bedmate's shoulder. "Hey D....Dick," He caught himself almost using Duo's real name just in time. "Wake up!"

Nan visibly fought the wicked smile on her face as Duo moaned and shifted, flinging his arm over Quatre's legs.

The blond blushed and shook the other's shoulder even harder. "Nan's here with news....wake up!!" he growled.

"Alright, alright." Duo moaned and flopped over onto his back and slowly opened his eyes. "Morning Nan." he managed a small sleepy smile at the girl.

"Morning Dickey." she said cheerfully.

The Deathscythe pilot winced, then turned a deadly glare to the blond boy smirking above him.

Quatre fought down his amusement to focus on the matter at hand. "What did you hear, Nan?" he asked.

"One very drunk and frisky soldier told Celine that his buddy told him they caught one of those Gundam Pilots."

Duo sat up and both boys paled.

"Did he say which one?" Duo asked, anxious but trying to be as casual as possible.

"The guy didn't know, just that the pilot is Asian, and that he was just a kid. They found and staked out his mobile suit until he came back, and then netted him. Evidently he fought like the devil himself and they had to shoot him with a tranquilizer to subdue him."

"Where is he... did he say? Quatre asked in a small voice.

"Top floor of the tallest building in the city, The Hertzog-Bellows building.

"Winner owned." Quatre said under his breath so only Duo could understand him.

Nan continued. "After a couple more drinks on the house, he let on that there was surveillance of another gundam in the woods. A big black one. He said the specials team that was sent here to capture the Gundam pilots believes the other pilot is trapped within the city. They're gonna wait him out because sooner or later, he'll need his mobile suit."

"So the search throughout the city by the soldiers continues?" Quatre asked with a frown marring his face.

"Yeah, they're going door to door, systematically searching businesses and homes."

"Have they come here yet?" Duo asked.

"No, but they should get to this area this afternoon."

Duo leaned forward. "The military can't find us Nan." he said emphatically. "If my friend here is found, his stepfather will...." he looked up into the dancer's light brown eyes, haunted by an unspoken past drummed up by his plea. He could see she knew quite well what he was insinuating would happen.

"I won't let them find you, and neither will the others. Though we may have to disguise the both of you." she said with a quirked up eyebrow as she thought about the idea.

"Disguise?" Quatre's voice squeaked a bit.

Duo lowered his head into his hands. "I was afraid of something like this." he moaned. 

"What?" Quatre asked becoming a bit uneasy at his friends negative reaction to the word disguise.

Seeing that Duo wasn't going to answer, he looked to the young woman in front of him who merely gave them a crooked, mischievous smile and the glint in her eyes warned the Sandrock pilot he wasn't going to like whatever was coming.

An hour before the door opened, six OZ soldiers entered the bar/dance hall. They were led by the tall albino Special's agent who directed the area's search. He demanded in a firm, authoritative tone that all employees and people present in the building be rounded up and brought before him for questioning. Sly called all the men and women present in his establishment to come into the bar. As the soldiers began their thorough search for the suspected Gundam pilot hidden in the city, the leader, who had been referred to as Ghost by several of the soldiers, took a careful and scrutinizing study at the varied group of people standing in a line before him. Almost all present were dressed in robes as they prepared for the evening's entertainment, their faces heavily made up for the stage. Removing his glasses because of the dim light in the room, the commanding officer's unnaturally pale eyes scanned the group with a look of disdain clearly written on his face. There were two in the group who were more modest in dress and seemed much too young to be employees of such an establishment

"What are your names and how old are you?" the tall soldier asked in a loud, commanding voice as he bent over to peer into the two young girls' faces, knowing his unearthly-looking eyes would frighten them. His eyes shot to the small blond with the short hair and blue bow topping her head when he noticed that she jumped slightly as he barked out the question. Her large blue eyes rimmed with long eyelashes that were touched with a hint of mascara and eye liner look up at him warily.

"That's my little sister, Katie." Cherry stepped forward.

"Isn't she a little young for this kind of place?" the white skinned man asked skeptically. His eyes scanned the petite girl and took in the slender build from the slight swell of her breasts to her narrow hips and thin legs exposed by the mid-thigh hem line of her floral dress. He thought for a moment that she was really quite pretty and that when she reached her maturity she'd probably be stunning.

Cherry frowned. "She doesn't work here." she replied snidely.

The trained soldier turned his eyes to the other girl and immediately sucked in his breath. The eyes on this young one were remarkable; large and a blue-violet shade he didn't think he'd ever seen before. She was as diminutive as the blond, however, her mass of long rippling hair fell from the crown of her head like a heavy veil around her body. As if mesmerized, the Albino soldier reached out and touched the dark, warm brown hair and was surprised by the warning look those marvelous eyes gave him.

Sly stepped forward. "That's my niece, Delaney." he declared. "She's not one of the girls working here and she doesn't like to be touched."

The white skinned hand slowly dragged through the piece of long hair still trapped between his fingers until he reached its tip. He then let it gently fall to lay against the slender body. "Pity, these two could draw quite a crowd." he murmured to the manager.

Sly shrugged in reply. "They're too young and besides, their mothers wouldn't approve." He moved to stand between the two girls being scrutinized a bit too closely and put a reassuring hand on each slender shoulder. "Besides, they're here only because the soldiers on the streets scare them, so they came here after school and are waiting for their parents to pick them up after work."

The albino straightened and nodded, accepting Sly's explanation as plausible, then allowed himself to be distracted by agreeing to the manager's generous offer of a free drink from the bar.

Several minutes later, two of the soldiers returned from their search of the premises, reporting that an attic was discovered. They briefly described its contents and waited for further orders.

"What's the attic used for?" the white haired man in charge asked Sly with a penetrating glare.

Sly replied casually. "The owner sometimes comes into town and stays there occasionally when the weather keeps him from continuing his travels. And sometimes, when the girls can't make it home, it's available for them to use."

Several other soldiers returned to the bar, gave their reports, and with a nod of his head, they exited the front door. The tall white skinned man moved towards the door but paused as he passed Sly and whispered in a low voice to him. Sly shook his head vigorously with a deep frown on his face in reaction to whatever the man asked. The soldier gave a sneering smile in reply and with a nod of his head left the bar.

Quatre collapsed against his friend. "That was close." he whispered, trying to calm his rattled nerves.

Duo patted his back. "You did well Quatre." he whispered encouragingly, though he struggled to calm his own racing heart by taking in deep breaths of air.

Sly approached them. "All's clear. You should be safe here until they pull out." he assured them.

Duo nodded as he thanked the older man. "What did he say as he left?" he asked curiously.

Sly looked unsure of answering, then taking a deep breath he told him. "He offered me an outrageous sum of money for either one of your services for the night."

Quatre's eyes widened in horror, and Duo's narrowed in anger. "Pervert." he growled out. He then took a hold of Quatre's upper arm and turned towards the stairs pulling his offended friend along behind him. "Let's get changed out of this.....stuff." he grumbled with disgust as he led them back to the attic.

Feeling somewhat secure once they entered their room, the blond boy silently made his way to the bed and sat down, obviously deep in thought.

Duo followed and began to re-braid his hair.

"You know," the blond looked up thoughtfully. "These disguises could work to our advantage."

Duo's hands stopped their movement and his eyes widened. "Oh no, no, no, no, no, no. Don't even think about it." he warned the other.

"But Duo, just think about it. It makes sense." Quatre rushed to explain before his friend made up his mind to be stubborn. "They're looking for boys, not girls. Plus, they're looking for us to be on the defensive, not the offensive. We can go anywhere we please dressed like this, with no one the wiser. Who would suspect two sweet looking school girls of trying to rescue a gundam pilot out from under their noses?"

"By the colonies, Quatre," Duo protested. "You have no idea what it's like walking around as a girl, it can be dangerous and sometimes humiliating." He remembered all too well his experience of dressing like a girl while on a mission with Wufei, trapped in a similar situation like this. Without Wufei protecting him as he posed as a girl, well, things would have been very dicey indeed. 

"Yes, but we can take care of ourselves, can't we?" the blonde asked, posing the question as a challenge to his reluctant friend.

"Believe me, you don't want to do this, Quatre." Duo warned as he began to work again on his braid.

"You're right, I don't want to," the blond agreed, "but like you said last night, sometimes you have to do things you don't want to in order to survive. It's the best idea we've had yet, and we need to get to whoever was captured quickly before they move him to another location."

"Out of the frying pan and into the fire." Duo moaned as he tied off the end of his braid.

"Isn't that precisely when we do our best?" Quatre smirked.

The American lowered his face into his hands and groaned with pitiful resignation.

Being a Friday night, the bar began to fill with local, regulars, and OZ soldiers. Word had evidently gotten out through the ranks of soldiers about the two young girls spotted there during the search, and the Special's agent, Ghost's, interest in them. That alone caused a curiosity among those who'd met the unsettling albino, and the thought of catching a glimpse of the two girls who'd caused him to turn his head would be well worth checking the joint out. Unbeknownst to them, however, the two "girls" were in the attic planning a daring rescue attempt of the captured Gundam pilot.

TBC


	6. Part 6

Author's note: Thanks to Swordy for proof reading my fics and finding my typos and generally cleaning up the page for me, you're a dear! Sorry this is so short, I'll try to get another chapter out before I go on vacation next week.

Educating Quatre

By: Dyna Dee

Part 6

It wasn't unusual for a Saturday morning to see the streets of Heidelberg alive with the bustling of shoppers, tourists and, added to that, soldiers who mingled amongst the civilians as they continued their search for the suspected teen Gundam pilots thought to be still harbored within the city.

Two teenage girls, appearing to be out for a day of shopping, blended easily into the crowd. Both boys wore much less makeup than the night before. A little mascara, powder, blush, and lip gloss were all they needed to keep up their guise of being young females. Both wore the mid-thigh length dresses that flared out at the waist and flowed almost wistfully against their thin legs, a very feminine style that had been generously offered by some of the smaller dancers at Sly's club. Quatre won the toss of the coin for the dark tights, and Duo, being the loser of the toss, had to settle for the rolled ankle socks stuffed into the loafer style shoes that were also borrowed.

Each of the two stylish "girls" carried a variety of bags from different department stores, lending to an air of normalcy. They casually approached the Hertzog/Bellow's building and standing in front of it, they stopped and looked skyward, looking up the thirty-eight stories. They had learned from Nan that the building was filled with offices from various well-to-do corporations.

Quatre had done his homework after the club had closed for the night, and borrowing Sly's computer, set down arrangements beforehand allowing them entry to the building, heavily guarded by OZ soldiers. He also e-mailed Rashid to inform the Maguanacs of their status and to expect a visit from the other two pilots soon. He quickly arranged for transports to be waiting for the remaining three Gundams, the location of which was a mere two hours from where they were currently trapped.

It was approaching eleven a.m. when they entered the building arm in arm. They strolled casually up to the security desk in the center of the foyer, seemingly unaffected by the presence of soldiers stationed at various points along the room's perimeter.

A tall blonde woman, that Duo recognized from following Trowa in the market three days ago, stood leaning up against the information booth and turned to appraise the two teenage girls as they approached the counter. Quatre felt a shiver shoot down his spine as she turned her cold, piercing blue eyes onto them, and found himself forcing a small smile as he met her gaze.

"Excuse me?" Quatre managed to speak in a small voice as he turned to the employee in a security uniform who was sitting behind the desk.

"What can I do for you?" the thirty-ish man asked pleasantly, disregarding the frown on the OZ woman's face.

"My uncle is expecting us." Quatre said demurely. "He said he'd have clearance at the front desk for us to come to his office." 

The man nodded and looked at his computer. "His name, and then your names." he smiled pleasantly. 

"Frank Bellows." Quatre smiled charmingly. "And I'm Seeima Winner, and my friend is Sheeza Boyes." There was an unfeminine snort of laughter from beside him. Quatre elbowed his friend to stop, and was hard put not to look at Duo and start laughing at their chosen names

The man looked up with a curious look on his face. "Seeima and Sheeza." he repeated their names as if testing them out on his tongue. "Interesting names." he commented out loud, but inwardly thought what strange parents to give their pretty daughters such odd names.

Turning his head back to the computer screen, he nodded his head. "Okay, here we are." He looked up with a smile. "Mr Bellows has your names on the guest list." His eyes continued to scan the screen in front of him. "It appears he is in a meeting just now, but I'm sure you could go to his office and wait for him."

"That would be fine." The blonde answered cheerily, though inwardly groaning that his uncle was such a workaholic, working on a Sunday. He had broken into the building's security computer early that morning, tapping into his uncle's schedule to make it look like he would be meeting them there, not in a meeting. That could only mean that his uncle was indeed on the premises. He fervently hoped his meeting would last until they were done rescuing their comrade, thus keeping him from becoming involved in the rescue attempt. He turned to look at Duo and continued in a small voice. "We can lay out what we bought and see if we need anything else while we're in the city."

The blonde woman, who had been watching the entire conversation, moved to lean over the security guard to examine the screen. With a nod of her head, the man opened the drawer to the left side of the desk and removed two security passes and indicated that they should clip them on their dresses so that they were always visible and then gave them directions to Mr. Bruce Bellows' office. 

"I'll take them to the elevator." the tall willowy woman volunteered without any hint of pleasure of the task visible on her face. "Follow me." she told the two curtly. She led them to the elevator door and pushed the "UP" button.

The silence while waiting for the elevator to arrive seemed uncomfortable, so the Sandrock pilot decided to break it. "Don't worry Sheeza," Quatre turned to Duo and on the sly gave him a mischievous wink, "my uncle is really nice, and I'm sure he'll want to take us to lunch. After that we can finish shopping, alright? He won't bite, I promise."

Seeing that this conversation was all for the woman's benefit, Duo decided that if he was going to play along, he'd play along for fun. "Well, I don't know..." he said worriedly in a soft whispering voice. "I seem to remember you saying your uncle REALLY likes young girls. He won't hit on me will he?" He almost laughed to see Quatre's eyes almost bug out of his head.

"I meant, that he likes little girls. No wait!" He put his hand up seeing he hadn't made the statement sound any better. "I mean, that when my sister and I were young, he always visited and brought presents. He was really sweet to us. He's a good uncle, AND THAT'S ALL." The last was said in a sweet sounding venomous tone, which made it seem even funnier to the Deathscythe pilot. He was hard put not to laugh, so he put his hand over his mouth and muffled his laughter.

The Specials agent gave then a scathing glare at what she thought was frivolous conversation. "Take my advice girls." she surprised them when she addressed them without deigning to look at them, but at the numbers above the elevator that lit up as the elevator car descended . "Don't trust any man. Learn how, and then always be prepared to defend yourself." She then condescended to look down at them and smirked as she saw the wary look on their faces. 

Both "girls" nodded and thankfully, the elevator doors swished open. The two entered and turned to see the older woman lean in and push button labeled 35.

"Don't go to any other floor." she warned them. "We're on high security alert today and you'll meet up with some very, very angry soldiers if you're found elsewhere." She then gave both of them a piercing glare. "Understand?"

Both nodded again. Seeming satisfied, the agent stood back from the doorway and kept her eye on them until the doors shut completely.

Both released the air trapped in their lungs, and relaxed slightly. The elevator was quick to arrive at the thirty-fifth floor and, as instructed, they made their way towards the corporate offices. As they walked through the hallway, they noted the placement of soldiers standing guard at the exits and determined that there were four total on the floor, and that they would have to deal with later. The office of Bruce Bellows, CEO of The Bellows Corporation, a mogul in the transport and trade industries, was easily located as the black plaque to the right of his private office door had his name and position written clearly in fancy scripted gold letters.

Quatre turned the doorknob and was relieved that the door was unlocked. He paused with one hand on the knob, and before entering the room, turned with a smile and waved to the soldier watching them from the end of the hallway. After the soldier gave a nod and smiled back, he then opened the office door and entered the executive suite with Duo on his heels.

Once the door was shut, the two boys immediately busied themselves. Taking the chair behind the large desk, they positioned it underneath the square HVAC vent. Stacking several objects onto the fine leather, executive chair, Quatre steadied the make-do ladder while Duo climbed up, flipped open his utility knife, and began to remove the screws that held the vent to the ceiling. Having successfully opened it, Duo handed the metal screen down to his partner, then dropped down and quickly re-braided his hair. 

Meanwhile Quatre opened their shopping bags and removed the four, fully-loaded hand guns and knives they'd hidden within the feminine clothes they'd purchased in order to hide them in case they were searched. The weapons were quickly tucked into a small, black backpack as the clothing they wore had no pockets to carry their weapons as they crawled through the vents. Duo took up the backpack and slipping the strap over his shoulder, he secured the small pack to his back and the two paused to share a silent look of readiness. Slipping off their shoes to leave them on the floor, Duo moved to climb the "ladder" once again and pulled himself up and inside the three-foot square air shaft. He immediately discovered that the vent he'd crawled through protruded an inch above the metal frame of the vent opening, and that the raised edges were rough and sharp. Once up, he carefully leaned over and reached for Quatre. The blond teen clasped both hands firmly onto the descending hand to steady himself from falling off the wobbling chair, and quickly pulled up, helping lift the Sandrock pilot through the opening and safely over the sharp edges of the vent.

Removing a computer printout of the building's schematics he'd copied from an Internet site that was dedicated to honoring well-designed and innovative structures of which the Hertzog/Bellow's building was considered to be, Quatre led them down the shaft to the vertical air shaft that was connected to the upper floor. Duo eased off the pack and rummaged through it. He pulled out a tube labeled Sure Grip, opened it, and slathered on the odorless, clear and slick lotion on his hands and bare knees. Quatre meanwhile removed the tights he was wearing and put them in the pack. He then accepted the tube from Duo and likewise coated his hands and knees in the same manner, making those body parts a bit sticky and enabling them to climb the shaft with a firm grip on the metal walls. With only a bit of effort, the two cross-dressers made their way up the sharply-angled, vertical air shaft. Several times Duo halted and hissed below to his companion that he'd better not be looking up his dress. Both of their faces were continually pink with embarrassment at the realization of how much the short dresses revealed when crawling on their hands and knees. Even though they wore their boxers, they still felt terribly exposed. 

Reaching the top of the shaft, Duo paused to catch his breath, and silently cursed the hated dress which made his crawling and climbing much more difficult because the hem of the dress kept getting caught under his knees. He reached down once again to pull Quatre up. They both winced at the sound of fabric tearing and momentarily stopped all movement. The Arabian reached down and removed the snagged portion of his dress from a sharp corner of the vent that had taken hold of the nylon fabric and easily tore a clean rip down the front of the dress, from his upper ribs to his hip bone. He could feel the sting of a deep scratch on his skin the sharp protruding piece had caught along with the fabric. Once he was freed, he swung a leg over and climbed onto the thirty-sixth floor ventilating shaft.

Both boys were breathing a bit faster from their efforts. "Let's go." Duo whispered, then nodded to the direction of the next vertical shaft. Two floors yet to climb.

There was little to no activity in the rooms they passed over, but the two pilots moved as silently as possible, keeping their presence undetectable should anyone be quietly working in any of the rooms they silently crawled past.

They found the shaft leading to the thirty-seventh floor and quickly scampered up into it, pausing for only a moment to catch their breath again, and then repeated the same procedure to the thirty-eighth floor.

With knees and backs aching from the unaccustomed and prolonged position and use, they moved on, knowing that their friend had to be freed. With more caution than before, they paused at each vent to listen for voices, any hint as to where their fellow pilot was being detained. Duo led with his head down as he moved, listening for any distant sounds. In this position, he was shocked beyond belief when he felt a hand press firmly against the top of his head, causing him to stop. He instantly pulled back and looked up startled. He couldn't help the gasp that escaped his lips as he recognized the other person in the air shaft with he and Quatre. Staring back at him with stern, disapproving eyes was Heero, who, after noting Quatre behind the braided boy, looked anything but happy to see them.

TBC


	7. Part 7

Author's note: Vacation starts Wednesday morning. I'll be back in two weeks to continue Duo and Quatre's misadventures.

Disclaimer: See first page

Educating Quatre

By: Dyna Dee

Part 7

Warning: Violence

He couldn't help the slight gasp that escaped his lips as he recognized the other person in the air shaft with he and Quatre. Staring back at him with stern eyes was Heero, who, after noting Quatre directly behind the braided boy, looked anything but happy to see them.

Having developed a sign language to use on covert missions, Heero asked through his hands, //What are you doing here?//

Duo rolled his eyes and signed back. //To rescue whoever was captured. Was it you? Are you escaping?//

Heero shook his head and held up his hand displaying his five fingers.

Duo nodded, it was Wufei. //Where?//

Heero motioned to the nearest vent behind him. He then pointed to his watch and signaled four minutes, ten seconds. 

Duo nodded and turned to make sure Quatre got the complete message. The Sandrock pilot nodded that he understood and when they both turned their attention back to Heero, they saw him fighting a smile and instantly realized the reason. Both boys in dresses gave the Wing pilot their best scowl, which seemed to cause more distress to the Japanese boy as he was forced to hold in his amusement.

He finally turned away from the two to compose himself and prepare for the mission before them. He mentally shook off the humor he'd felt a moment before and, once again, donned the persona of the perfect soldier. 

Seeing Heero in mental preparation, Duo took off the backpack and removed the weapons from inside, handing two guns to Quatre and two of the knives. The vent was still in place, but it looked like Heero had managed to unscrew the four corners enough to loosen it. A kick of a foot would eliminate the barrier between them and Wufei. Heero looked at his watch and then moved himself over the vent. With quick hand signals, he told his companions that Trowa was going to provide a distraction and that was when they would attack. He would go down first, and call out if he needed further back up. Then, not waiting for their reaction or comments to his plan, he turned his focus on the vent. With a gun in each hand, he placed them on either side of the vent and tensely waited while listening to the voices below to determine the direction of his targets.

There it was, in the distance the sound of an explosion announced Trowa's arrival. Positioning his tightly curled up body over the vent, his feet parallel to the screen and his arms planted as a sturdy support, Heero looked up to his unexpected companions and silently mouthed the countdown as three more explosions came, each sounding closer than the last. 

//Three. Two. One.//

The slightly alarmed voices from the room below were heard as the three soldiers in the room reacted to the attack that drew their attention to the large window over-looking the city. There they were witnesses to the sight of a Gundam, which they quickly identified as 03, approaching the city and fighting off the two mobile suits sent to deal with him. At the sound of a crash behind them, they turned in alarm and in unison, hands moving to their holsters that housed their weapons.

Duo and Quatre watched the Wing pilot draw his knees up and then let them spring out, crashing through the screen below, his body falling easily through the opening with his guns firing before his feet hit the carpet below. The rapid pops of his silencer and the resulting silence afterwards revealed to the two in the air shaft that he'd succeeded in having the advantage of surprise as his gunfire wasn't returned by any one in the room.

Duo followed his friend by dropping down through the open vent a moment later, dropping into a crouch as he hit the floor. Surveying the room, he put a hand up to Quatre to stay his advance.

Three men lay dead on the floor near the large window in pools of their own blood; the redhead he'd seen at the market, with his hand still on his holstered gun, an older man he hadn't seen before with dark sunglasses askew on his face and faint streaks of white at his temples of his otherwise dark hair. His gun lay on the floor inches from his hand. And lastly, Duo easily recognized the albino who had questioned them the day before. 

His eyes turned to Heero who was presently standing behind the door to the room that led out to the corridor, waiting and listening for any who might question any noise they'd made. His eyes met Duo's and with a nod of his head, indicating the area behind the point the Deathscythe pilot had landed moments before. He turned to see Wufei tightly bound to a chair and placed next to the far wall. Though his mouth was gagged and his eyes implored Duo to hurry and release him.

Heero, satisfied that no one was coming, secured the door by locking it. Then he made his way over to the desk where a computer and a specialized lap top were located. His fingers immediately began to work the keyboard. 

On the other side of the room, Duo's knife made short work of cutting through the many ropes that held Wufei's arms, ankles, and torso to the metal chair. A moment later, the gag was removed, and to his amazement, the Chinese boy's first words were, "What the hell?"

Duo knew exactly what he was referring to as Wufei's dark eyes were raking his attire up and down. "Shut up." he answered in a warning whisper, giving his friend the look that said he'd better drop it. Then, his eyes softened as he looked questioningly at his friend. "You okay?" he asked.

Wufei nodded, but couldn't help rolling his eyes at the get up Duo was dressed in. 

"Move." Heero hissed the order as he repositioned himself away from the computers to stand under the open vent. Duo responded by grabbing hold of Wufei's arm and hauled him out of the chair and over to Heero who had already laced his hands together indicating he would boost them up into the shaft. Quatre peered over the edge and stood ready to help.

Duo followed Heero's example and laced his fingers together offering a place for Wufei to place his other foot. Holding onto their shoulders, the Shenlong pilot placed both feet on his friend's hands and looking up, found himself easily boosted upwards towards the opening in the ceiling and clasping hold of Quatre's extended hands. An involuntarily sigh of relief escaped him as he finally settled in the metal air shaft, glad to be out of the room he'd been held in for two days.

Heero cupped his hands again, indicating it was Duo's turn. "Ladies first." he smirked.

The braided boy shook his head and whispered teasingly. "You just want to look up my dress. You go first." 

Heero scowled. "We don't have time for this." he whispered vehemently. "Just move."

Seeing that Heero was not going to back down, the other boy complied, handing his gun to his scowling friend so that he had both hands free. 

Whether it was just his brute strength or impatience at his friend's teasing that caused Heero to propel the light-weight boy up into the shaft with such force was debatable. But the result of the strong toss upwards was an overshot, causing the hands above to miss their target, leaving Quatre to fumble in an effort to catch his friend, resulting in him having to scramble to grab a hold of Duo's torso instead of his hands. It seemed much more awkward to lift him than it had with Wufei because the material of the dress made it hard for him to get a firm hold of his struggling friend. Ultimately, he required Wufei's help to the drag the Deathscythe pilot up and over the sides of the vent, eliciting a muffled, strangled cry from the boy.

"Are you alright, Duo?" Quatre whispered as his friend lay face down on his stomach breathing more heavily than he should under the circumstances. With an affirmative nod from the braided head, Quatre and Wufei turned back to concentrate on helping Heero up. With better timing and less effort, the Wing pilot entered the vent and immediately signaled Quatre to take the lead. 

The blond boy handed his gun and knife to Wufei to carry for him and the Chinese teen placed them in the waistband of his pants and followed behind the rapidly crawling blond, careful to avert his eyes from the other's boxer clad posterior exposed by the shortness of the dress his wore. Heero's senses were alert to what was going on about him and paid no attention to his friend as he took hold of the gun Duo held out to him with a shaky hand. Without a second thought, he followed behind the other two as the long haired boy put on his back pack and took up the rear position. They made their way to the vertical shaft and Duo removed the tube of Sure Grip and passed it around. In the same order the four inched their way down the sharp incline as quietly as possible. 

By the time Duo reached the thirty-seventh floor, Quatre and Wufei were already on the move. Heero paused to wait for the last pilot, wondering what was taking Duo so long. The boy in question dropped down from the vertical shaft onto his knees and hung his head with a low moan, causing the Wing pilot to wonder if he had injured himself. He moved closer to the American who had angled himself around to sit up with his head in the open shaft above and stretched his legs out in front of himself. It was then that Heero had his explanation. Duo's bare legs were scraped raw and bleeding quite heavily. The skin on top of his thighs down over to his knees and shins had been literally peeled off by the sharp edge of the vent they'd escaped through.

Without looking up, Duo painfully folded his legs under his body and positioned himself on his hands and knees again then looked up. It was then that he noticed Heero's presence and the look of worry in his eyes. With nothing else to do but continue, he motioned Heero to proceed and that he'd follow.

Heero's pace was much slower, but the Deathscythe pilot still found it difficult to keep up. He had no choice but to follow his friends to safety, despite the horrible pain in his legs. It was only by the sheer force of his will that he made it down the other two shafts to the thirty-fifth floor.

Quatre jumped down from the ceiling vent, crashing almost gracefully onto the boxes and chair that they had used to climb up into the shaft. Picking himself up, he pushed everything aside and looked up to see Wufei patiently waiting. Once the space below was cleared, he jumped also. The two then looked up to the open vent, waiting for Heero and Duo to follow. They exchanged a worried look after several minutes passed, wondering if something had gone wrong. Both were silently relieved when Heero's face finally appeared through the opening. 

With a wave of his hand, the Wing pilot motioned the two over to help. After which there came sounds of shuffling from above them that had the two in the office very curious as to what was going on. Then suddenly, two bloody legs that could only be Duo's, were slowly being lowered through the small space. Both boys rushed to help, but didn't know quite where to grab, fearful of causing more pain to the injured limbs and of being killed by Duo for grabbing him anywhere else in order to help him down. 

Wufei stepped forward and helped ease his friend down by moving around to the back of his legs and offered his hands as a seat for his friend's upper back of his thighs. Quatre moved quickly to help catch Duo around the waist when he let go of Heero's hands. It was awkward, but together they managed to get the stockinged feet onto the carpet.

"I'm okay." Duo quickly whispered his assurance to his friends who looked at his bloody legs with revulsion "It just stings like hell. But I can walk and run if I have to."

Heero dropped down behind him and came around to the front to survey the damage better. "You left a bloody trail in the vent." he said in a neutral, not quite accusing tone. 

"Thanks for caring." Duo mumbled just under his breath, clearly unhappy at Heero's comment.

Quatre exchanged a look with the Wing pilot. "Then if Duo's up to it, we should get out of here before they find the bodies upstairs and that Wufei has escaped. They might be able to trace us here to this office." Then a look of doubt crossed the boy's face as he looked at the thin bloody legs. "And it's pretty obvious that we can't leave the same way we entered the building. Duo's legs will draw attention."

"And you have a tear in your dress." Wufei pointed out with a smirk on his face despite the seriousness of their situation. Quatre looked down at the damage to his dress and saw his skin and his boxers through the large rip and blushed.

"How did you plan on leaving with Wufei?" Heero asked a tad snidely, as if he believed they hadn't thought the matter through. "Got another dress with you?"

Quatre squared off to him immediately. "Duo and I were going to lure one of the four guards on this floor into the office and knock him out. Wufei would then wear the uniform and escort us to the street and disappear with us in a taxi."

Heero's mouth opened as he prepared to speak again when suddenly, the door to the office swung open, catching the four pilots looking like deer caught in the headlights of an inescapable, oncoming truck. 

TBC


	8. Part 8

Educating Quatre

By: Dyna Dee

Part 8

Warnings: light angst, drama

Heero's mouth opened as he prepared to speak again, when suddenly the door to the office swung open, catching the four looking like deer caught in the headlights of an inescapable, oncoming truck. Not even a second later, the two boys with guns raised them to point with deadly accuracy at the blond haired man standing in the open door way, dressed in an expensive business suit and looking equally shocked. Heero motioned with his gun that the surprised man was to shut the door. The man quickly complied.

The middle aged man's shock wore off quickly and his eyes narrowed in anger. "Who are you and what are you doing in my office?" he asked in an authoritative tone. "I don't keep any money in my office and my family will not negotiate for a ransom. But if you're this desperate, I have a couple of hundred dollars in my wallet that you can have if you'll just leave."

Quatre moved to quickly step between the man and his trigger-happy friends. He put his hands up to calm the situation. "It's okay guys, he's my uncle."

The man heard the comment and turned his blue eyes to fully study the teenage girl who turned to look at him apprehensively. His eyes squinted as he scrutinized her face. "Well, you could certainly pass for a Bellows," he observed out loud. "but I don't recognize you as part of the brood."

"It's me Uncle Digger." Quatre said with a blush of embarrassment covering his entire face. He always called his uncle that childhood nickname when addressing his mother's brother. Quatre took after the Bellows' fair haired line rather than the darker skin and hair of the Winners. In spite of the fact that his sister had been deceased since Quatre's birth, his uncle had made an effort to visit he and his sisters often when they were younger. The nickname he'd affectionately called his uncle had come from his uncle playing for long periods of time in the sandbox with him when he was very young. As he grew older, his uncle told him in a wistful voice that he could see his deceased sister in Quatre's features and felt a need to be with the young child whose father was too wrapped up in business and had little time to spend with a quiet, well behaved child.

"Bucket?" The man's blue eyes widened with the realization and shock that the girl before him was really his only nephew. His eyes traveled up and down the boy taking in the blue bow in his hair to the feminine dress that was ripped down the front.

Quatre nodded, and winced at the nickname he'd earned in the sandbox. "This isn't quite what it seems uncle. I assure you, this isn't my usual attire." he rushed to explain seeing the befuddled look on the older man's face as he stared at his dress. He inwardly groaned thinking that Duo was going to have a field day of teasing with him about this unexpected situation.

"I heard from your sisters that you ran off to fight for the colonies." the man still bore a perplexed look, still not quite believing what he was seeing. "Is this a form of retribution for the way your father ignored you when you were young?" He was clearly struggling for an answer to what was before him.

"By Allah Uncle, no!" The blond teen sputtered out. "My friend and I are undercover to rescue another friend." he motioned to the three behind him.

The man whose eyes looked so much like his nephew's took in a deep breath as his mind put the facts together. He looked at the other three faces, stern and serious for young teenagers, and he didn't miss the open HVAC vent either. "You're Gundam pilots." he stated with just a touch of disbelief in his utterance.

A loud explosion in the distance caused the group to move to the window. It didn't take more than a moment for the group to focus on the out-of-place object that had caused the surrounding destruction.

"That's Heavyarms." Quatre told his uncle. "Our other friend is providing a distraction so that we can escape." He turned to face his uncle whose eyes were locked on the retreating Gundam.

"I don't want to pull you into this Uncle Digger, but we need to get out of this building as soon as possible. My friend here," he motioned to the unusually quiet Deathscythe pilot "is injured, and his injuries will draw attention if we try to leave by the front door. Do you have any ideas how we could leave without detection?"

The older man drew his hand through his short blond hair, a gesture the others had often seen Quatre do when he was thinking. Suddenly a light in his eyes was followed by a sly smile, silently announcing he'd come up with a solution.

"There's a service elevator at the end of the hall near the copy machine and break room. I told the guards outside that I needed to get some important documents." He looked up questioningly at the four. "You do know that the other side of this building is on fire, don't you?"

Quatre and Duo turned to look at Heero who shrugged unrepentantly at his little diversion.

Quatre turned apologetically to face the older man. "I'm sorry uncle. I didn't know. Are we in danger?"

"No, but the building is being evacuated, though the alarms and sprinkler systems don't seem to be working as they should. I wanted to move some documents to my car in the garage just to be safe. Since you've got ID badges, you and your ..." he looked to Duo, taking in the dress, the hair, the eyes, and his bloody legs.."girlfriend can accompany me down. Your other two acquaintances can climb back into the vent and go through there to that room. There's an opening that I'm sure they can manage and enter to elevator shaft and ride it down on the top of it."

"I'm a boy." Duo spoke his first words since the man entered the room, and even then his voice was low and quiet.

"I know." Mr. Bellows lied; he could see the boy was in pain and needed whatever comfort that was offered. Evidently he needed him to know he wasn't a girl. He'd have never guessed that, what appeared to be a very pretty girl with the beautiful hair, was really a boy and figured it must be a blow to the male ego.

"We don't have much time." Heero informed them, bringing the CEO back on track.

"It seems we have no other options." Wufei stated. "We might as well give it a try." The others nodded and Mr. Bellows moved instantly to a closet opening both mahogany doors at once. He brought out several boxes and quickly loaded it with discs and a lap top. Some paper files were added, plus personal belongings. He grabbed two long trench coats and handed one to Quatre and one to his injured friend. "Hold these in front of you and it will cover the most apparent damage." he quickly instructed them. A brief look of concern flashed across the man's face at the torn and bloody legs. The pinched look on the teen's face showed he was in considerable pain.

"Once we get into my car," he forced his eyes to turn away from the injured boy to his nephew "where should I take you?"

"Just out of here." Quatre answered plainly. "I don't want you to get into any trouble uncle, so you can drop us off at any corner and we'll go on from there." 

"Shenlong's in the garage below strapped to a transport truck." Heero abruptly informed them and Wufei's head snapped up in surprise.

"Then lets take the transport and I'll pilot Nataku as soon as were in an open space." the gundam's pilot suggested eagerly.

"Deathscythe has been discovered and is being used as a trap for Duo." Heero continued and was somewhat gratified to see the surprise on the other's faces.

"Well your just full of information today Yuy." Wufei said with appreciation. "How did you find that out?" 

"The computer upstairs. The information was on the screen as well as a portable tracking device." he explained. I didn't have time to determine how or what they used to track us, but I will as soon as I can analyze this." He held up a disk for them to see.

Duo's body began to sway slightly, and Quatre reached out to grab hold of his arm to steady him.

"We'd gotten the same information from a soldier in a bar." Quatre offered as confirmation of Heero's information. Both Heero and Wufei looked at he and Duo with a slight expression of shock, both wondering where the hell those two had been for the last few days.

Heero's eyes evaluated the condition of the Deathscythe pilot again, who stood on unsteady feet in silence looking extremely pale and fragile, leading Heero to the only conclusion possible in his current state. "Duo's not going to be able to pilot his Gundam out of there, especially if he needs to fight to reclaim it. I'll go with Wufei, and after we take back Shenlong we'll move to where Deathscythe is located. We'll eliminate the trap and I'll fly his Gundam to a safe place and transport it to the new location along with Wing."

"Is Sandrock compromised?" Quatre asked in a worried tone.

"Not that I could see from the information that I saw." Heero replied, then his eyes took on the expression of authority. "Quatre, your assignment is to take Duo with you and see that he gets first aid. When he's able, the both of you scout out the area where you left Sandrock, secure it, and escape together. Head to the new safehouse with as much caution and speed as you can." his directions came in the tone of an irrefutable order.

Duo frowned, not happy at someone else piloting his Gundam. But damn, his legs hurt. He looked down hesitantly, almost afraid to look at the damage that was causing him so much pain. The sight of the skin peeled away from the front of his bare legs, revealing a layer of tissue and blood that was oozing down his legs and into his socks made his stomach churn and his vision blur. A firm grip on his arm straightened him up and moved his eyes away from the damage to his body, saving him from embarrassing himself further by losing his breakfast in front of the others. He looked up to give a weak, grateful smile to Heero who, in return, looked at him in concern.

"Looks as bad as it feels." he said in a gravely voice with a twisted, forced smile.

"Don't look at it Duo." Quatre advised, afraid his friend was about to pass out.

With effort, the braided boy swallowed the bitter bile climbing up his esophagus and willed the room to stay still. Taking a deep breath, he looked at the others watching his every action. "I'm alright." he assured them again, knowing his weak reply wouldn't fool them for a minute. "Let's just get out of here before they find us. Don't think I'm gonna be much help in a fight right now."

With a nod and brief words of encouragement, Heero and Wufei climbed back up into the air shaft and made their way to the elevator. Quatre retrieved their shoes from the pack and helped Duo slip his on before donning his own, deciding not to take the time to put the tights back on. 

After seeing the two Asian boys disappear into the open vent, Mr. Bellows bent to pick up one of the boxes and handed it to Quatre, then lifted the other for himself. He looked into the face pinched with pain, and worried that the long haired boy might not be able to pull off the charade they needed him to. "Just worry about keeping your legs covered and not passing out, alright?" 

The boy nodded grimly and steeled himself mentally, then moved stiffly to follow Quatre and his uncle to the door. They exited the room and ventured into the hallway where they were met by one of the soldiers.

"Did you get everything you needed, Mr. Bellows?" the soldier asked, eyeing the two girls slightly behind the older man.

"Yes, I believe I have, Mr. Jarvis." he replied unsmiling, showing his unhappiness at the idea of his building on fire. "Is it still safe to take the freight elevator to the parking garage?"

"Let me check." the soldier pulled out a communicator and turned it one and began talking to someone in command.

Quatre's eyes shifted between the two men and Duo, whose face had lost all color. He wondered if his friend was going into shock.

"All clear." the soldier replied crisply, "The fire department has arrived and it seems the fire is somewhat contained." he reported, then let his eyes return to the two girls. His gaze settled on Duo. "Are you alright miss?" he asked.

Duo looked up startled. "I....I'm fine." he managed to say in a quiet voice.

"She's just frightened by all that's been happening, the explosions outside and word of a fire in the building." Mr. Bellows supplied.

The guard looked around to see where the other soldiers were. "You better leave with the girls quickly, sir." he said quietly, as if he was breaking protocol. "Something else is happening here today other than the fire alarm going off that could upset the girls even more."

"I will Private Jarvis, thank you." Mr. Bellows replied kindly. He'd often traded pleasantries with the young man during the few days that OZ had commandeered the upper floor to hold a prisoner and direct search operations, and knew he was a decent fellow. He then turned to lead the two teens towards the service elevator. 

"Stop!" They had made it about ten feet when the private barked out the order. 

The three collectively turned their heads and wary eyes back to the soldier who was studying the carpet and following a dotted trail to them. His finger touched the spot and turned the up to examine the bright red spots. "What's this?" he asked, with any tone of friendliness having vanished as his eyes narrowed in suspicion on Duo's feet. Traces of blood were on his shoes and socks peeking out from under the cover of the carefully draped trench coat.

He slowly stood, looking once more the threatening soldier, his right hand firmly placed on his firearm, and the other on his communication device. "What's going on here?" he demanded.

"Please," Quatre stepped forward to intercept the man as he advanced on them. They both stopped as they met, and neither Duo nor Quatre's uncle could hear what the Arabian boy was saying in hushed tones to the soldier, but the American had no doubt that his friend was attempting to talk them out of this predicament. To their relief, the soldier nodded and abruptly turned, leaving the three to find their own way out of the building.

As he returned to them, looking slightly flushed, the Arabian teen motioned for them to proceed, and his uncle led them once again down the hallway towards the elevator.

The elevator arrived quickly, and once inside, the three sighed in relief. They waited until they heard a slight tapping above them before releasing the hold button and the elevator carrying five began its thirty-six floor descent to the parking garage one level below the large building.

Duo's curiosity was eating away at him. "Okay, Quat, what did you say to him?"

The blond dressed in drag looked up at his friend sheepishly through his long bangs. "Well," he drawled. "having as many sisters as I have, I came up with the only explanation I could think of." he answered.

A snort of stifled laughter came from Mr. Bellows, and the American wondered at it. "What?" he looked at the man who had turned away, his shoulder shaking. He then turned looking confused at his friend whose cheeks were turning pink. "I don't get it. What exactly did you say?"

"Well," the blond teen began again looking away from his friend to the flashing numbers of the descending floors. "I asked him not to embarrass you as you were experiencing your first....um.. ah.... menses and were unprepared for it."

"Menses?" Duo asked, his brows drawn down in thought at the unfamiliar word.

"Ah......a..... " Quatre stuttered and moved slightly closer to his uncle for safety even as the soft sound of barely restrained laughter could be heard from above them. "A...menstrual cycle. You know...a period." he finished, blushing furiously.

Duo's eyes widened, and on his pale face appeared two bright red spots on his otherwise pale cheeks. "You...to..t..told him that?" his voice squeaked.

"It was a logical and reasonable excuse for why you had blood on your shoes, socks, and on the floor." Quatre explained with a look of apology. 

The Deathscythe pilot's hands turned white as he gripped the coat in his arms. "Quatre!" he growled in warning.

"Now Duo," Quatre held his hands up to calm his friend. "You're in no shape to fight right now, nor to throw a temper tantrum. So calm down."

The long-haired boy seemed to huff and puff in frustration as his words seemed to elude him. "I...do...not....throw...temper tantrums!" he growled again through gritted teeth.

Snickers of stifled laughter sounded from above them, and Duo glared malevolently at the soon to open vent on the ceiling of the elevator car.

"Almost there." Mr. Bellows announced with a smile on his face despite the tenseness of the situation. 

Quatre nodded and moved to the side of the door where the control panel was located. "If you'll bring your car as close as possible to the elevator, we'll wait here until you arrive."

The vent from above them lifted and Wufei and then Heero jumped down, both wearing smirks on their usually stoic faces.

"Shut up!" Duo snapped irritably.

"We didn't..." Wufei began with a chuckle.

"I. Said. Shut. Up!" the braided teen raised his voice, then suddenly began to sway. The smiles around him disappeared as the two dark haired boys nearest him reached out to steady their friend.

"I'm fine." Duo groaned in protest at their help, and closed his eyes as he once again willed the room to quit spinning.

"Perhaps I should take your friend to my home?" Mr. Bellow's suggested tentatively, watching the long hair boy fighting to stay upright.

Quatre shook his head. "We can't risk you and your family getting caught up in this Uncle Digger, the consequences for helping us could be severe. But thank you for offering." he gave the older man a soft smile of genuine gratitude. "Duo and I actually have some place to go and I can care for his wounds once we get there."

Mr. Bellows looked fondly at his nephew. "You've certainly grown up into a strong young man, Quatre. I'm very proud of you." he said sincerely his voice and smile warm with affection.

"Thank you, Uncle Digger." the wide blue eyes filled with emotion. "You have no idea how much that means to me." he whispered back.

The tender moment was broken when the elevator stopped and the four boys scrambled to the sides to hide from any security cameras that may be placed outside the doors.

"Be right back." the CEO promised as he stepped between the open doors and walked away casually with his box in his hands.

As soon as the doors closed, Wufei held the stop button. They stood in silence for a few moments, three sets of concerned eyes watching the forth boy lean heavily against the wall, his eyes shut tightly.

"Duo." Heero called his friend's name softly as he touched his shoulder.

"I'm okay, Heero. Just resting." he said quietly, having regained his composure once more.

The Japanese boy turned to the blond Arabian. "What's your E.T.A. to the appointed destination?" he asked.

Quatre took in a deep thoughtful breath. "A week, if Duo heals fast enough for us to move about." He replied. "I'm sure we can stay where we've been hiding out."

"Where exactly is that?" Wufei asked with one eyebrow raised.

"Read it in our report." Quatre said with a slight baleful smile, knowing it was killing Wufei not to know about the place they'd hinted at.

"Alright." Heero spoke, returning the conversation back to the topic at hand and looking at Quatre. "Duo is your responsibility, the retrieval of Sandrock will be both of yours as well as your escape from the city."

Quatre nodded his silent acceptance. 

A tap on the metal doors brought the silent group back to attention. Wufei pressed the open button, and the doors slid smoothly aside to reveal Bruce Bellows. His champagne colored luxury sedan was idling almost silently behind him, the back and front passenger door were invitingly open.

"The large tarped truck is located one level above us, on the ground floor." he told them in a hushed voice. "It's guarded."

Heero and Wufei nodded and readied their weapons.

Mr. Bellows moved forward and took hold of the braided boy's elbow to assist him to the car, Quatre took up the other and led him forward to the door to the backseat of the car. Quatre set the box he held into the front seat, then jumped in first, scooting over to allow ample room for his friend. Duo turned around and eased himself back onto the seat, carefully lowering his body then lifting his bloody legs up and turning them into the car.

"You're sure you can get him to safety?" Heero's voice asked in a dubious tone as he leaned into the open door. His eyes shifted to the front momentarily as Mr. Bellows sat in the driver's seat and shut his door.

"I told you that I'm fine, Heero." Duo snarled. "I'll get him to safety."

"I was talking to Quatre." Heero snorted with a wry smile. Leave it to Duo to switch the mission to himself.

"We'll be fine." Quatre assured him with a grim look of determination on his face. 

Heero nodded, his eyes taking in both boys. "We'll be expecting you within the week." He backed out of the door and Wufei quickly took his place.

"Be careful." he said with concern. "And thank you." Then he was gone, the door shut quickly behind him.

"Ready boys?" the older man twisted in his seat to question them.

Quatre nodded. "If you can just get us clear of this building and head east, just a couple of blocks, you can drop us off and we'll find our way from there."

The blond man's brows furrowed with doubt. "You're going to walk with your friend in that condition?" he asked.

"We have to." Duo answered distractedly as he looked out the car window watching Heero and Wufei disappear into the shadows of the parking garage. "We can't let you know where we're staying...for your own safety."

The CEO nodded and turned and shifted the car into gear, he was careful to keep to the same cautious speed he always practiced when he drove out of the garage. The champagne colored car moved through the sparsely filled garage and then up a ramp to the next level. Both pilots noticed the large, tarped-covered transport in the corner of the ground level parking lot and the guards stationed around it. Even as they watched, they saw one of the rear guards taken down by a shadow. They both turned their heads, craning their necks to watch even as the sedan moved further away towards the exit leading to the street, and were rewarded to see another guard disappear into the shadows.

The car came to a stop and both boys looked forward to see that they were next to a security booth. A man in his thirties dressed in a security uniform stepped forward, leaving behind an armed OZ soldier who was observing the car with caution.

"Mr. Bellows." the security guard greeted the well known man pleasantly. "A little too much activity today." he said in a friendly greeting, though his eyes strayed to the two girls in the back seat.

"Yes, Garth," Bruce Bellows replied with an agreeing nod. "And unfortunately, it all happened as my niece and her friend came to join me for lunch. Got a real scare I'm afraid."

The security guard's eyes lingered a moment longer noting the lack of color on the long haired girl's face. "I can see that." he said, and then stepped back. "Well, have a good weekend." He paused, then placed his hand on the car, just above the driver's door and looked down at the Mr. Bellows. "Be careful out there, looks like there's some debris on the streets from the Gundam's attack."

They all came to a startled attention as a loud alarm reverberated through the near empty garage. The OZ soldier ran into the booth and hit a button and a metal gate began to slowly lower from the ceiling and the sound of a large truck starting behind them added to the confusion.

"Go uncle, NOW!!" Quatre shouted. 

To the security guard's surprise, the luxury sedan took off with a shot, barely missing the lowering gate and flinging his hand off of the car, throwing him backwards.

TBC

  
  



	9. Part 9

Educating Quatre

By: Dyna Dee

Part 9

Warnings and Disclaimers: See first page of story

The luxury sedan careened tightly around the corner into the light traffic and wove quickly around slower cars as it rushed to gain some distance from the building that was now probably under a full security alert. Yet despite the older man's efforts, after only two turns sirens could clearly be heard following them.

"Uncle Digger." Quatre loosened his seat belt and leaned forward to give his uncle instructions. "Make a couple of right turns, but make sure anyone following behind us can't see, then slow down and let us out."

"Quatre, I can't do that. I just can't abandon you with soldiers hot on your heels." the older man replied firmly even as his hands gripped tightly to the steering wheel as he made another quick turn.

"You have to uncle. Just tell the authorities we had you at gun point, that you came upon us unexpectedly in your office and had no recourse but to follow our forced demands."

The blond haired man driving the sleek car shook his head sadly. "Your mother, bless her soul, would never forgive me if something happened to you Quatre."

"Nor would she forgive me if you or your family were hurt defending me. What I do is my choice uncle. I must live with the consequences of that choice, but you don't. Please, just let us off and wish us well."

The older man said nothing for a few moments, but concentrated instead on his driving skills and eluding the cars with the sirens and flashing lights that were slowly gaining on him.

"Please Uncle Digger." Quatre pleaded again. "Before it's too late."

Mr. Bellows sighed dejectedly. "Oh, all right. Have it your way. But if you're hurt in doing this, I will never speak to you again." 

Quatre turned to look out the back window to see two jeeps with flashing red lights in the distance, they had about one city block on them.

"Alright. Duo." He looked at his friend sitting pensively, holding tightly to the door's armrest for stability. "Get ready to get out quick. I'm sorry, but it's the only way." He was relieved when his friend eyes met his and he nodded his head in agreement.

"Okay, one more right-hand corner" the blond teen in charge ordered. "then slam on the brakes. As soon as we're out, take off as fast as you can." He cast a glance at their pursuers then at Duo, pleased to see the other boy had his hand on the door handle, ready to go.

As they turned tightly around the corner, they readied themselves, and with a screech of the tires and a jolting lurch, the car came to an abrupt and absolute stop. In the same instant, Duo flung open the door and then himself out onto the sidewalk with the Sandrock pilot on his heels, slamming the car door behind him he gratefully watched for a mere second before the sedan sped off.

After only a couple of feet, the Deathscythe pilot stumbled and fell to his knees, a small, strangled cry of pain reflected the agony caused by the impact on his already damaged limbs. Quatre reached down and lifted his friend up to his feet by his elbows, then setting his sights on the doorway of a store, pulled Duo towards it and into the small, sheltered alcove of the doorway. From the shadows of the small corner market, both pilots looked out to see two jeeps with OZ insignias on the side, red lights flashing as they careened around the corner, recklessly chasing after the fleeing sedan.

"I hope he'll be alright." Quatre whispered in a worried tone as he hung onto his trembling friend and watched the pursuing vehicles disappear down the street after his uncle. 

Once they were gone, he helped Duo enter the store. The blond pilot looked about the store's interior, getting his bearings. Looking down an aisle, he saw a white haired, elderly Asian man kneeling on the floor and stocking some canned goods on a shelf. Quatre gave a quick nod of his head to Duo indicating he should stay behind, then left his side to approach the older man.

"Excuse me sir?" he said in his best falsetto voice, gaining the man's attention. "My girlfriend over there," He motioned with his hand back towards Duo's direction. "fell on the sidewalk outside and injured her legs. Do you have a restroom we could use to clean her legs up?" 

The old man, whose back was bowed from age and years of hard work, slowly turned to observe the girl speaking to him, then bent at his waist to peer beyond her to observe her injured friend a short distance behind her. His eyes wandered in a manner of slow observation from the top of the brown, braided head, down the slender body and partially coat-draped legs to the bloody white stockings. His eyes then slowly moved back up to meet the pain-filled eyes. He came to some inner conclusion and gripping the shelf in front of him, slowly rose to his feet. He waited a moment until his stance was stable, then turned to look once again at the two girls and nodded his head. "Come." he replied with a trace of a heavy accent and motioned with his hand for them to follow, then turned to lead the way. 

Quatre moved back quickly and grabbed his friend's arm and pulled the stiff moving boy to follow after the old man who was just now rounding the far end of the aisle's corner. He didn't want to push Duo but the old man seemed incredibly fast despite his age. With a grim of amusement, he watched the severely bent form propel itself through the labyrinth-type aisles of the little-bit-of-everything store and then disappeared between two large swinging doors.

The braided boy's only complaint as he was pulled through the store's maze was an occasional grunt or quiet moan as they raced after the ancient Japanese man.

Once behind the double doors, the temperature of the air dropped considerably as the linoleum floor of the store front gave way to a cold cement slab. The light in the storage area was also more dim than the brightly lit storefront and the walls were lined with layers of stacked boxes of stored inventory. Quatre looked both ways in the dimly lit hallway, narrowing his eyes to search out the direction the old man had disappeared. "Where?" he scratched his head.

"Coming?" The scratchy voice called out from the left side of the corridor. In unison, the boys turned their heads to see the white-haired head pop out from around the corner of the boxes halfway down the narrow aisle. Taking Duo's arm again, the blond boy led him towards the beckoning man. 

A click was heard and a light beamed into the darker storage area, indicating a room was hidden between the boxes. Turning the corner, they saw the old man fumbling in a medicine cabinet over an old but clean wash basin. He removed a small first aid kit and set it on the small counter to the left of the sink.

"Here, you use." he indicated the blue metal box. 

Quatre gave him a smile of gratitude. "Thank you." he said as he bowed in respect to the ancient one as Wufei had taught them as being proper. He was rewarded by a weathered smile and a bow in return from their benefactor. Then without further word, the man left the room and closed the door behind him.

Moving to the med kit, Quatre opened it and scanned its contents. "Okay Duo, lets see what we can do with this."

The owner of the store paused in his work several times as he heard several loud bursts of a strangled voice coming from the back room. It sounded like muffled cries of pain mingled with words that, even with his limited English, made him blush with embarrassment. 

A half hour later the two girls emerged from the back storage area. He watched with his keen sharp eyes as the long haired girl looked even more pale and unsteady on her feet. He took in the white bandage wrapped around her wounded legs, looking like the rags of a mummy, and that the blond girl held onto her friend's elbow to help support her as they approached the counter. They stopped before it and the petite blond spoke.

"Thank you again. You're very kind to help us." 

The old man bowed and motioned for the two to follow him to the far end of the counter. Two styrofoam cups sat next to a pot of hot water on a small heating pad. He removed the tea bags from the cups and set them aside, then reached under the counter to pull out a small, sealed plastic bag. He opened it and sprinkled what looked to be a dry herb into one cup, resealed the bag and replaced it, then picked up a plastic spoon and stirred the contents. Once satisfied, he turned and handed a cup to each boy. Duo was the recipient of the cup with the additive.

"What is it?" the American questioned his friend even as Quatre brought his nose close to the cup and sniffed the contents.

"Just tea, I think." he replied and took a careful sip. He nodded his head in approval and looked to his friend. "It's good." he announced with a smile.

"Drink. Good for you." the old man motioned to Duo who looked hesitantly at the steaming cup in his hands.

The Deathscythe sipped at the hot contents, and was pleased at the gentle taste and the comforting warmth of the tea, but silently noted that it really needed some sugar added to it. 

It took about five minutes for the boys to drink the hot fluid down and throw the empty cups into the trash receptacle.

"Thank you." Quatre smiled at the man. "That was very good. What kind of tea was that?"

The white haired man smiled, his eyes disappearing into crescent shapes surrounded by wrinkles. "Special blend." he said proudly. "Make you strong." He then pointed to Duo. "Make you relax and feel better. You go home now."

"May I buy some?" Quatre asked, having been a tea drinker all his life, he knew a good tea blend when he tasted one and his people back home could no doubt duplicate the delicious taste the old man had come up with. 

The ancient one smiled and reached under the counter. He pulled a tray of jars labeled in Japanese haiku and quickly and efficiently mixed small amounts of dried tea leaves from several jars into two separate bags then stapled them shut. With a black marker, he placed a large X on one of the bags, and handed it to Duo. "For her," he announced then handed the other bag to the blond. "For you."

Quatre fished into his small skirt pocket and pulled out several folded credits. The old man immediately put up both hands and shook his head. "No, no. Gift from me." he insisted in his heavily accented voice.

"You're sure?" Quatre asked surprised by a further show of kindness from the man. "I have money to pay." he added.

The white head nodded and his smile was sure. "Good business, help others."

Both boys bowed with respect to the kind man and gave him their heartfelt thanks.

With Quatre's hand on Duo's elbow, he supported the wounded boy out the store to the sidewalk.

"Okay, where are we?" Duo asked without enthusiasm as he looked all around at the unfamiliar buildings.

"We're a mile or so to the southeast of my Uncle's building. Closer to Sandrock than the bar." he answered then continued. "But you're in no condition to fight if we have to in order to get my Gundam. So," he took a deep breath as he made the decision regarding their course of action. "I suggest we go back and hide out until you're more mobile. A couple of days at most."

Duo nodded his consent. He didn't feel well at the moment. Seeing the skin peeled back off of his legs and enduring the painful antiseptic spray and gel had made him decidedly nauseous. The tea though seemed to ease that upset and he began to feel very agreeable to whatever his friend suggested.

"Can we call a cab?" he asked with a lethargic sigh.

Quatre shook his head as he looked up and down the streets, trying to determine which would be a more practical and cautious route to take. "Sorry." he replied. "But cab rides can be traced and our hide-out integrity might be compromised if my uncle is forced to talk."

Duo groaned and leaned heavily against his friend. "Is it a long walk?" he asked dismally fearing the answer.

"Only about two and a half or three miles." he tried to sound optimistic. 

"Well," Duo took in a deep breath of air to buoy up his determination. "let's get started then." he said, knowing the sooner they got started the sooner they would reach their attic room.

Unfortunately for them, OZ soldiers and search vehicles seemed to be everywhere, forcing the two boys to take a longer, roundabout route back to the dance club. This caused their progress to be slow and halting. They had to duck into stores and alleyways to avoid the searching soldiers. Not more than a half hour after leaving the grocery store, they ducked into an alley and hid behind a smelly garbage dumpster to allow the wounded boy to rest. Duo slumped against the side and slid down to the garbage strewn ground. Quatre stood guard, watching down the alleyway to the street beyond, making sure the transport truck that approached had passed.

When he turned to give Duo the all-clear, he found the wounded boy to be sound asleep, his upper body and head were leaning back against the brick wall and tilted to the side, resting on the garbage receptacle.

The blond Arabian wrinkled his nose in disgust. He leaned down to wake his friend up so they could continue on, but to his surprise, Duo couldn't be brought to a conscious state. 

Then the words of the old man came back to him with meaning. The tea would help Duo "relax and heal". "By Allah," he whispered in shocked realization. "he's been drugged." he slapped his forehead at not realizing it sooner. The old man had meant well, but now they were stuck. With Duo out cold, and knowing he couldn't possibly carry him as it would cause too much attention, especially in their present state of dress, he knew his options were limited. Giving into his frustration and to the inevitable, he moved to sit next to the slumbering boy dressed in drag and carefully pulled the American's body away from the dumpster and eased him down until his braided head rested on his lap. Shifting Duo slightly so that his injured and bandaged legs weren't touching each other, the pilot of Sandrock mentally prepared himself to wait until the herbal drug wore off and Duo awakened.

TBC

Sorry it's so short, I'll put another chapter up soon, after I unpack and do a weeks worth of laundry from vacation.


	10. Part 10

Educating Quatre

By: Dyna Dee

Part 10

Warnings and disclaimer on first page of story

Duo's mind seem to slog out of the hazy fog his mind was mired in and he licked his lips, wincing at the odd taste in his mouth. If he didn't know better, he'd have sworn that he'd been drugged. His nostrils breathed in the foul smell of rotting garbage, and it worked as well as smelling salts to bring him to full awareness. Wakefulness, however, brought along with it the pain in his aching legs and in his boney butt resting on the hard ground. "Oh shit." he groaned. "What happened?"

"You fell asleep." Quatre's voice came from above him. "It was the tea." he explained even before Duo managed to open his eyes which felt like lead held them down.

"Sorry man." the braided boy slowly eased himself up and rubbed his face in order to wake himself up further. He looked up as he felt his friend's hand grip his shoulder.

"It wasn't your fault." Quatre assured him in his gentle manner. "Do you think you can stand and walk now?"

"Yeah,.....sure." Duo answered sounding a bit doubtful as he tried to move his legs. A whole new stream of curses flowed from his lips as the carefully taken movement brought pain coupled with the numb unresponsiveness from his injured legs that had fallen asleep.

The blond boy stood, feeling stiff himself, and reach down to help Duo up. The American groaned as he stood on his unsteady legs and took a few staggering steps to try them out.

"Go slowly." Quatre suggested, as they slowly made their way to the entrance of the alley.

The braided teen was startled to see the day was ending as the evening shadows lengthened into night. He'd obviously slept away the afternoon. They walked along the city streets, careful to stay to the shadows as much as possible. Their progress was frustratingly slow to both of them as they made frequent stops to let Duo rest.

After what seemed like most of the night had passed, they found themselves several blocks from their waiting bed. Duo's arm was draped over Quatre's shoulder and the blond's arm was wrapped tightly around his waist, helping to support his damaged legs. They halted and ducked into the shadows after seeing familiar movements ahead of them, recognizing OZ doing another door-to-door search.

"Quatre," Duo's voice came out in a long, weary sigh. "I can't go any further. Just put me in an alley and get outta here."

"I'm not leaving you, Duo." the other boy answered offhandedly, dismissing the injured boy's request completely.

"Please, Quatre." the braided boy leaned against the building to support his weight and catch his breath. "Just this once, stop being Mr. Considerate and save yourself." he pleaded with effort.

"No!" the blond answered sharply. "Heero put me in charge of this mission and we'll both hide until they're gone."

The wounded boy looked up at his friend through his bangs seeing the determination in the Winner boy's eyes. Damn but his legs hurt abominably. "I'm in no shape to run and hide, Quatre." he replied honestly, hoping to convince his friend to go on without him.

"Think Duo." Quatre ordered as he turned to face his friend. "You're the self-proclaimed street kid, master of the run and hide game. Where can we hide where they won't look?"

The American boy's head turned about to take in his surroundings; they were in a neighborhood of commercial buildings topped with residential apartments. The security on the closed shops would be too time consuming to break in quickly without tripping alarms. Then his eyes lit on a dark space between the buildings. "Let's go down that alley." he pointed to the dark path twenty feet behind them.

Quatre got a better grip on his friend and they made their way to the alley they'd passed minutes before, being careful to stay out of the streetlights and keeping to the deeper shadows.

The alleyway was even more deeply darkened by the night, but the illumination from the lit windows several stories above ground level gave off enough light for the two boys to just make out the shadows hidden in the dark. On the ground were dark, lumpy mounds lining the building's outer wall. Duo whispered that they were homeless people sleeping. Halfway down the alley stood a black rectangle shape, about four feet high.

"There!" Duo said in a loud whisper. "We can hide there and there's a good chance they won't search it."

Quatre's eyes squinted to try and make out what it was that Duo was referring to. Besides the men sleeping on the ground, all he could see were the outlines of large, commercial trash receptacles. A sinking feeling entered his chest. "Surely you don't mean the dumpsters?" he asked incredulously.

"It's the only place." Duo replied solemnly.

"By Allah, Duo. I can't hide in there." he gasped, horrified at the suggestion.

"Why not?" Duo hissed as he started to hobble towards the shadowed object.

"It's dirty, full of germs, and it smells horrible." Quatre answered, disgust dripping in his voice. "It's unsanitary."

"That's why they won't search there." The boy in front of him hissed back. "And from a different perspective, it's also a prime source of discarded necessities for the poor and homeless. And for some desperate enough, it's where they got their last meal."

"Oh, please." Quatre snorted derisively, wrinkling his nose at the offending odor permeating the air surrounding the large black object they were approaching. 

The American stopped as he reached the large bin, then turned angrily to face his friend and hissed in a low voice, "So you're telling me that you are too good to use what we have available? Your delicate sensibilities would be too offended, right?

Is little Mr. Nibs afraid of getting his hands dirty? Would you rather be captured?" he taunted unkindly.

Hearing the mocking tone in Duo's voice, Quatre knew that, once again he'd offended his friend. "I'm sorry." he said, honestly contrite. He'd asked Duo to take the lead again and already he was balking at the first decision the wounded boy made.

"What for?" Duo shot in back in irritation as he bent to pick up a box, turned it upside down, and pushed it up against the garbage container. "For being born with a silver spoon in your mouth, or for having everything you've ever wanted or needed." his voice was filled with mild disdain. "Or maybe you're sorry for not looking at a full dumpster as a treasure trove, where someone's discarded clothes might keep you warm, or thrown-out food would be welcomed to ease the hollow, cramping ache of starvation? Is that what you're sorry for?"

Without looking back, the long haired boy used the side of the dumpster to support himself as he carefully stepped up onto the box. As his hands gripped the cold metallic rim, he mentally prepared himself for the inevitable pain he was about to feel as he climbed over the sides. He was stopped short when two arms encircled his waist from behind, and Quatre's head came to rest against the middle of his back as he embraced his friend tightly.

"I'm sorry I offended you." the blond boy said, cautiously keeping his voice down. "I'm sorry there are children who still look at a dumpster as you described it. I'm....I'm just so sorry." They stood there for a moment, and the Winner heir could hear the rapid heart beat beneath his ear, and slowly, Duo's tense body relaxed under his embrace.

"I'm sorry too." Duo whispered back allowing his anger and irritation seep out of him, not quite knowing why he was taking things out on one of his best friends. Taking a deep breath he looked over his shoulder. "Come on, help me up and kick the box away when you climb in after me." He turned around to face the inside of the dark bin, wishing he could see better to know where he should land. His arms tensed in readiness. "Try to ease my legs over so they don't scrape the edge." he instructed the other.

With a slight spring, Duo lifted his body up with the strength of his arms, the pain in his legs making it almost impossible for him to bend them. "Swing them over." he grunted.

Quatre's hands were poised and ready, yet he froze, not knowing where to place his hands. Duo's dress had lifted, showing the bare backs of his thighs, and most of his legs and boxers. He reasoned that he needed to push Duo up and over by the seat of his pants. The problem was, he was wearing a dress.

"Hurry up!" the injured boy complained as his arms began to ache from the strain.

Not wanting to touch the injured front of Duo's legs, the Arabian moved forward and grabbed hold of the bottom of Duo's boxers, and swiftly lifted him up by them, and over the edge.

The sound of a body hitting plastic and cardboard was followed up immediately with "Sweet Mary...." Duo groaned.

"Are you alright?" Quatre climbed up on the box and peered into the dark expanse of the large container, careful to breath through his teeth gritted mouth and not his nose. 

"Yeah, just peachy. You give a hell of a wedgie, Quatre." came the sarcastic reply. "Just get in here and don't land on me!"

Angling himself away from Duo's voice, the Arabian boy grabbed hold of the rounded edge and lifting his body, he effortlessly swung his legs over. His body landed on objects solid and some not so firm but... squishy, and the smell of the rotting garbage intensified. He involuntarily shuddered at the unknown garbage that surrounded him.

"By Allah..." he groaned, bringing his hands up to cover his nose and mouth. He heard a rustling in the garbage behind him and turned to see Duo's dark form disappearing downward.

"What are you doing?" he asked, irritated by the whole situation. The shadowed movement stopped.

"Ya gotta dig down and nest as close to the bottom as you can. Find a dry spot." Duo explained and advised.

Swallowing his disgust, Quatre Winner, heir to the Winner fortune equaling billions of credits, began to shift plastic and paper bags filled with garbage to worm his way down further into the dumpster. Curse words he'd learned from his early association with Duo came easily to his lips as filled paper bags broke apart and spilled their contents. His hands were covered in wet slime.

"I think I'm going to be sick." he announced, pulling the back of his hand against his lips as if to stop the bile from rising. Just then his foot settled on something that squished disgustingly.

"Over here, quick." Duo whispered anxiously as sounds of approaching vehicles came from the end of the alley and grew louder with each moment.

Wading through the nearly filled garbage dumpster was not an easy task, but the Sandrock pilot valiantly struggled towards his friend's voice.

"Where?" he whispered, not seeing the other in the darkness. He felt his arm grabbed and his body pulled forcefully forward, until he was pressed against Duo's slender form.

"Heads up." Duo warned and slipped a cardboard box over both their heads. "I've got a piece of cardboard and a plastic bag on the bottom." the Deathscythe pilot whispered in his ear. "Sit down and I'll sit on your lap."

"You weigh more." Quatre complained logically as his ears followed the sounds of the approaching transports.

"Well you can't sit on my lap." The other pointed out the obvious, and Quatre conceded that point was true.

They carefully and quickly rearranged their position so that the Arabian was pressed against the back of the dumpster with Duo immediately in front of him. 

"Alright, on three." Duo instructed. "But go slow so I can throw stuff on top of the box to conceal us." 

On three, they slowly bent their knees and the box above them became heavy with whatever garbage the American could reach and toss upwards. Duo hissed at the pain the downward movement caused him.

Quatre sat on the cardboard that was flattened out on the bottom of the large bin, and pulled Duo carefully to sit on his lap. The braided boy gasped as the piles of garbage re-settled on his bandaged legs.

"How close do you think they are?" the blond whispered into his partner's ear.

"Don't know, maybe half a block." Duo hissed back. "Just relax and listen for any approaching sound." He squirmed on the Arabian's lap trying to get into a comfortable position. He leaned his back slightly against his friend and sighed deeply. "So tired." his voice came out small and weary.

"Then rest." Quatre said gently, all anger and hostility they'd shared moments ago were forgiven and forgotten. He reached up and pulled the wounded teen more firmly against his chest to reassure the American that it was alright to use him as a pillow. "I'll listen." 

Duo's head nodded in agreement against his shoulder. "Thanks Quatre."

The two boys from opposite side of the economic spectrum sat quietly in the industrial trash container for nearly an hour before the sounds of someone approaching their location could be heard.

TBC


	11. Part 11

Educating Quatre

By: Dyna Dee

Part 11

Disclaimers and Warnings on first page of story

Quatre's hand shook Duo's shoulder to wake him, and the other boy's hand closed over it to silently indicate he was alert. They sat in tense silence and perfectly still while focusing their hearing to the sounds around them.

Within the confines of the smelly garbage bin, they couldn't see the brightly beaming flashlights that searched the alleyway. They could, however, hear the footsteps and voices of the soldiers and those of the complaining men who had been abruptly roused from their sleep in the alley's dark shadows. Both boys stiffened further and held their breaths when two distinct voices grew louder as their footsteps neared the dumpster.

"Why do I have to do this?" one voice complained darkly.

"We're grunts." another answered sounding bored. "But I'm sure tired of going through this shit. I mean,....smell this. Who in their right mind would go near this?"

"Us, obviously." The first voice replied with dry humor.

"Well, let's shift this crap around and call it searched." The second voice said as the sound of items at the top of the container were shifted from spot to spot. "Just don't let that little commando with an ego the size of a colony catch us sluffing." he added in a tone of warning.

Quatre clutched the American tightly against his chest in order to hold the both of them still. The shifting of the garbage above them seemed to release more of the garbage stench that had been somewhat contained in the plastic bags. As the stench grew in abominable volume, he buried his face into Duo's hair, concentrating on the floral scent his shampoo had gratefully left behind. He stiffened with alarm when he felt Duo's stomach hitch under his hands knowing the other pilot's body was involuntarily rebelling against the malodor. Realizing that any movement or noise would alert the searching soldiers above them, Quatre thought furiously for a solution. He frantically searched the area in front of him for Duo's braid and finding it, lifted it to his friend's nose. It took only a few moments for him to feel the boy on his lap beginning to calm. He was under control once again.

"Oh man!" One of them men above the exclaimed in disgust. "What the hell is that smell?"

"Diapers." the other answered with a groan. "Smells like someone fed their kid fermented grape juice. Ugh!" the man moaned. "You can smell it even through the plastic. Disgusting!"

"That's it!" the first voice spat out resolute, and the sound of something being thrown back into the bin followed. "I'm done."

"Yeah, me too." the other replied. "It would take someone inhuman or insanely desperately to want to hide in this shit."

Their conversation faded as the two boys listened to the soldiers walk away, still complaining.

"Thank Allah." Quatre whispered just under his breath and into the scented hair.

"Shh! Just hold still a little while longer." Duo cautioned, his voice muffled by his braid over his mouth

Minutes crept by, agonizingly slow, and both teens had to force themselves not to bolt out of their smelly hiding place for fresh air, but to stay still. Their ears were alerted to any sound for the next five minutes. Suddenly, they tensed again as the sound of scuffling feet came to a stop just outside of the dumpster.

"You can get out now. They're gone." a deep male voice filtered down to them.

Neither boy moved.

"I mean you no harm children." he said softly, apparently trying to keep his voice from traveling. "But I think this bin could rot your brain if you stay in there much longer. Come out now." the gentle voice urged. "The soldiers have moved down the street."

After a moment's hesitation, it was Duo who was the first to move, easing himself away from Quatre's embrace and off his legs, signaling his friend to move. As soon as his legs were freed from the weight, the Sandrock pilot brought them up and put his feet under himself on the cardboard that covered the squishy bottom of the dumpster and forced his way upward through the garbage with the box still above his head. Unfortunately for Duo, who was having trouble moving his damaged legs out from underneath the mounds of garbage, he became the recipient of the clumps of loose garbage the box displaced on its ascent.

"Oh shit!!" Do spat out disgustedly, but the blond boy ignored him for the moment as his eyes were fixed on the person at the side of the dumpster. He was obviously one of the street people who had been sleeping against the alley wall. The street light at the end of the dark alleyway illuminated enough light to show a man of medium height with a slightly hunched back and scraggily hair and beard. The man's features were undistinguishable in the dim light.

"Need a hand?" the amused voice asked.

Quatre eyed the man warily as he didn't know how much he could trust someone of his ilk. Reaching his hand downward he blindly searched for Duo, his sight never leaving the obviously amused man before him. He was surprised when his hand landed on a wet, slimy head. "Get uh-up!" he sing-songed in Japanese, his voice deceptively cheery.

"Can't." Duo griped in the same language. "And thanks for the load of crap you just dumped on me." Sarcasm was dripping as well as garbage at the moment.

"Sorry." the blond replied sincerely, knowing Duo was going to be really miserable now that his hair was dirty. If there was one thing he knew for sure about his friend from L-2, it was that Duo took meticulous care of his long hair. "We have company. Come meet him." He didn't wait, but reached his hand down a little further and grabbed Duo by his upper arm and started to pull upward, insisting he stand up now. 

"I can't." the other reiterated with a hiss. "My legs are cramped and I can't seem to pull them up." 

Understanding that there was too much weight on his friend to rise up effectively, Quatre let go of Duo's arm and began to toss bags of offensive garbage to the other side of the bin. The man next to him saw what he was doing and silently and without invitation joined in.

It wasn't long before the American's legs were liberated and, with his friend's help, he was able to stand on his feet, dreading the inevitable climb out of the dumpster. "Oh damn, that hurt." he said through gritted teeth.

"You girls are certainly a mess now, aren't you?" the man asked with a chuckle that was not appreciated by either boy. 

"No shit Sherlock!" Duo replied flippantly as he pulled strands of cold, limp spaghetti from off his head.

That comment seemed to amuse the man further. "You must be who they're looking for," he continued, humor still in his voice. "cause I don't know anyone desperate enough to do what you two just did."

"Mind your eyes, ears and mouth old man, if you wanna live." Duo warned darkly, his voice deepening with threat. 

It appeared the bum could be shocked out of his amusement after all. Even in the dark, the boy's could see the outline of his eyes as they widened in disbelief. "You're...a boy!" he exclaimed.

"If you want to live," Quatre began, his voice softer and less threatening then Duo's. "you'll forget you ever saw us. Just go back to your bed and you'll wake up alive in the morning."

The older man hesitated as he looked in shock at the two disguised boys, dressed in girls clothing with garbage hanging off of them.

"Please." Quatre's voice pleaded. "Don't make us kill you. Just turn around and pretend you didn't see us."

They heard the man take in a deep breath and then exhale slowly as if in thought. His bent form straightened. "I'm afraid I can't do that." he answered resolutely, and the Sandrock pilot reached for the gun strapped to his thigh. The man slowly brought his hands up to his wild hair and scratched at it. "You see," he began to explain in a calm voice that belied his precarious situation. "I can tell you two are in trouble, running from the soldiers and all. One of you seemed to be injured and you need some help. Where I come from people on the streets look to each other for a hand up. You can always get it from old Fred. I'll help you if you'll let me, with no word to the authorities. We don't rat on anyone down here in the alley." he finished with a note of pride in his voice.

"Where are you from Fred?" Duo asked.

"Originally? L-2. I worked my way off that dying, corrupt colony and came to Earth. I'm still a street rat, but a much happier, fatter street rat. Earth is much better, open and free. But I always remember L-2 and the lessons I learned the hard way there.

Duo shuffled through the garbage to move closer to the man's position and laid his arm out, palm up. Even in the dark shadows they could see Fred was surprised by the gesture. But then slowly, he brought his left arm forward and placed it alongside the boy's, their hands clasping each other's elbows in a form of hand/arm greeting.

"How did you escape so young?" Fred asked in hushed amazement, his hold firm on the boy's arm in the traditional street greeting of the homeless living in the slums of L-2.

"I had some help from an outsider." Duo replied. "Thanks for the offer, Fred." he replied much more warmly than he'd previously addressed the homeless man. "If you could help my friend and I out of here, I'd be grateful."

Quatre blinked, not comprehending his friend, nor understanding what had happed to change his attitude so abruptly.

The bearded man nodded his head and moved forward to assisted Quatre out first. The both of them then turned and worked together to aid Duo, and with some careful maneuvering, curses, and pain, they managed to get the long-haired boy out of the dumpster and onto his unsteady legs. Duo stood with his arm around Quatre's shoulder and wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"Man, Quatre, you smell like a bucket of week old shit." he groaned.

"Well you're no spring garden either." the blonde replied sharply.

"You fellas got a place to stay tonight?" Fred asked straining to keep from laughing at their comments and standing at a discreet distance from the ill-fragranced boys.

"Yes," Quatre answered curtly, feeling extremely uncomfortable with the smell and feel of garbage on his body. "But we can't tell you where or we'd have to kill you." There was no hint of humor in his voice.

"And we can't get to it either with the soldiers all over the streets." Duo grumbled unhappily.

"I see." Fred chuckled, not really believing that the two boy/girls in front of him, covered with the stench and remains of someone's garbage liberally hanging off of them, could really do him any real harm. "Tell you what," he began, his manner thoughtful and friendly. "I've got a friend who owns a respectful, dumpy hotel, about a half block from here. It's already been searched and it's late enough that people have gone back to bed. He lets me have a room when I need it, ya know, to take a shower and clean up for a job when it comes along. We could go there and you can clean up a bit, rest if you need to."

"What would we owe you for the..help?" Duo asked skeptically.

Fred shrugged with a slight smile. "Nothing but the wish for a full belly, peaceful dreams, and a warm bed." he answered, knowing the boy from L-2 would recognize the traditional words of thanks a person with nothing to give wished to someone who aided them.

Duo relaxed, recognizing the words he'd said and had been said to him as a child as he helped others on L-2 streets.

"Do you think we can get there undetected?" Quatre cut in.

"Yeah, it's late enough and even the street bound are usually asleep at this hour.

"Then lead the way Fred, my man." Duo said almost cheerfully, then more soberly added. "But go slowly, okay?"

TBC

  
  


This chapter is kind of short, but more will come soon. We're getting towards the end now!


	12. Part 12

Disclaimer: See first page of this fic.

Educating Quatre

By: Dyna Dee

Part 12

Warnings: Sap is definitely found in this chapter.

Half an hour later, both boys stood fully clothed in a hot shower as they washed the muck from their misadventure in the dumpster. As the clothing was rinsed, they began to strip the offensive but useful dresses off until they stood clad only in their boxers. They took turns being in the direct line of the spray of water to wash their skin and hair with the bars of soap provided by the hotel.

Completely wet and finally clean, Duo looked at his friend with a sparkle in his eye. "Hey Quatre, ever have a poor boy's bath?" he asked with a smile.

The Sandrock pilot pushed the wet hair off his forehead to look at his friend. "Poor boy bath? Never heard of it before."

The wave of Duo's hand brought his attention to the massive and ancient porcelain bathtub they stood in. The old, run-down hotel they were presently housed in had apparently once, obviously many years ago, been a posh metropolis hotel. The bathroom was large and the bathtub looked to be a replica of a very old-style tub, long and wide. "Yeah, I think this is big enough." Duo said absently as the took in the size of it. He then looked up with a mischievous smile to his friend. "I haven't done this since I was a kid, but your still kinda small so I think it will work."

Quatre stood with the spray of the shower at his back to watch his friend with no little amount of curiosity, wondering what the size of the old bathtub and his own size had to do with whatever he was thinking. But the long-haired boy was holding out his hand and gestured for him to take whatever was in it. He reached out and accepted the now soft and well used bar of soap.

"Start rubbing the soap onto the entire surface of the tub." Duo instructed, his eyes gleaming with anticipation. He then shut off the water and began at the back of the tub to rub his own bar of soap against the wet surface. Shrugging, the blonde began to do as instructed on the opposite side. 

"Ya see," Duo began to explain as he worked. "L-2 has always had a water circulation problem. Never enough to go around, especially during the years the Federation was in power. At the orphanage the kids couldn't each have a tub full of water for a bath, there just wasn't enough."

Quatre listened to the beginning of Duo's story and was glad that the memory didn't seem to be bringing any pain to Duo as so many stories from his past did, at least it wasn't apparent in his voice as he worked at soaping the sides.

"So," he continued in a lighthearted tone. "Sister Helen said we had to be creative and make due with what we had. At the time I thought it unfortunate that we always has so little water and so much soap which was shipped with other charity contributions from Earth. Che." he snorted with mild disgust. "You think they'd have sent a lot more food, clothing and supplies that would have been a lot more useful and a little less soap." He turned to look at Quatre who was almost finished with the front sides of the white bathtub. "I swear that Sister Helen had a washing fetish." he continued with a slight smile at the memory. "She'd always coo over the scent of the soap saying how wonderful it smelled and that cleanliness was next to godliness." His smiled faded just a bit. "I don't think I knew up until the time I came to the orphanage what clean was or how good it felt." he sighed wistfully. Then after a moment a one sided grin formed. "But damn, I hated it. I was a terror to scrub down, that is until we lit on a new type of bathing."

Now Quatre's curiosity was piqued. "Which was?" he asked with a returning smile. When Duo smiled like that you couldn't help but grin back at the sight of it.

"The poor boy's bath." he replied simply, and turned back to his chore, being very careful to avoid bending his legs or letting the open wounds touch the soap or side of the tub. Finally, Duo gingerly stepped out from the tub and Quatre observed him more closely. His friend was still dripping wet, as he was, but his body was quite a mess, not to mention the obvious damage to his legs, but his upper torso and arms were liberally coated with bruises, old and recent. His friend definitely looked like he needed some serious rest and time to heal.

"Now," Duo addressed him even as he took one of the towels and began to dry himself off. "I obviously can't do this because of my legs, so you'll have to have all the fun for me."

Quatre wondered what he'd gotten himself into.

"Soap your body down with the rest of the soap, especially the backs of your arms and legs and the seat of your boxers. I'll catch your back."

"Duo......"

"Just do it, it'll be fun." the less-dripping boy urged as the towel went to his hair.

With trepidation the blonde billionaire followed the direction of his street-wise friend. He felt ridiculous. Duo's approached him, picking up the previously discarded bar of soap. His hands made quick work of smearing the soft soap across his shoulders and back.

Seeing Quatre soaped up to his satisfaction, Duo motioned the blond to the back of the tub. "Now, sit your butt on the top rim."

With a skeptical eyebrow raised, the slick-with-soap boy complied.

"Now pick up your feet and hold onto your knees and slide down the back, as much on your back as possible."

"I don't know about this. It seems pretty silly." Quatre said self-consciously. He didn't know if Duo was trying to make a fool out of him or what.

"Listen," Duo stood with his hands on his hips, in dripping-wet boxers and the towel now wrapped around his head holding up his wet hair. He looked ridiculous in his attempt to be serious, and a smile formed on Quatre's face. Undaunted by his friend's obvious humor, Duo continued on. "you're wet and all soaped up. Just give it a try. If it's no fun, you can rinse off and your done, okay?"

Quatre inhaled a quick breath of air and slowly exhaled it. For some reason this seemed important to his friend. Duo was trying to share something with him that he felt was a good experience from his past, something Quatre knew the boy from L-2 had too little of in his short life. For that reason alone, he complied.

In a determined and quick movement, he lifted his legs and grabbed hold of them, and immediately began to slide wildly down the angled back of the large bathtub. It was stupid and silly, Quatre thought as his body flew down the back and spun about as he hit the bottom of the tub and slid swiftly towards the rounded front where he slid up the side and back down, coming to a rest. Yes it was ridiculous, but he found he couldn't contain the smile on his face.

"I know," Duo grinned like an idiot at him. "dumb waste of time, but ...it's fun, isn't it?"

Quatre chuckled even as his slicked-with-soap hands and legs slipped and slid out from under him as he tried to get a firm hold on the equally slippery sides of the bathtub to pull himself up. "Yeah, it is." he agreed with a laugh.

"Try it again?" Duo asked hopefully with a grim about to split his face.

And so he did, at least twelve times as the laughter of the two boys echoed in the room. When he'd had enough, Quatre turned the water on to rinse the soap off of both himself and the bathtub.

Duo continued his story as he watched his friend step out of the bathtub. "When all the orphaned rug rats had at least a good ten turns or so, the tub was rinsed and refilled, and we were each plopped into the fresh water for a quick rinse off. In the end, we were all clean and had fun doing it."

Quatre looked up smiling at the sweet story, then noticed that Duo's cheerful grin had begun to droop. "I miss them." he said softly wistful, his eyes looking distant as he recalled the memory of all those who were now gone.

Then with a quick intake of air and a huff, the long haired boy turned to his backpack and unzipped it, quickly removing a brush and the change of clothes he'd packed for the two of them that morning, just in case they didn't make it back to the dance/bar.

Throwing Quatre his grey sweat pants and t-shirt along with a fresh pair of boxers, Duo then pulled out a similar outfit for himself. The two quickly stripped off their wet boxers and dressed, not wanting to dress in front of Fred who was lounging in the other room. 

But as Duo bent to pull his sweats over his legs, Quatre halted him. "I think you should let your legs stay uncovered Duo, and save your pants for tomorrow." he suggested, then went on to explain. "The air will help them to heal where otherwise the material might stick to your legs and be painful to remove in the morning."

Duo grimaced at the thought of having to peel the material away from his wounded limbs. "Alright," he agreed. "But it's your job to keep Fred away from me."

"Oh yeah, I forgot." Quatre snorted. "Your bloody legs are a real turn on, even for the same gender."

After being zapped on the butt with the flick of a wet towel for that comment, the two boys exited the steamy room. Two twin beds occupied most of the space in the room, plus a dresser and two night stands with old dingy lamps that sat on top of them. Shaggy, rumpled and dirty, Fred lounged on the bed nearest the door exiting to the hallway. He leaned back against the two pillows propped against the headboard. With a remote in his hand, he idly switched the channels.

"You staying?" Duo asked as he stiffly made his way over to the other bed and sat on the far side away from the scruffy bum. Slowly raising his injured legs, he brought them up to rest on the bed, straight out in front of him and on top of the covers.

Fred's hazel, bloodshot eyes turned and gawked at the now un-bandaged and raw skinned appendages, transfixed at the gruesome site. "Damn boy." he swore in disbelief. "How the hell did you get so banged up?"

Duo shrugged. "Scraped them on a metal opening I was crawling through." he answered truthfully.

"Clean tore the skin off, didn't you?"

"That's right Captain Obvious." Duo rolled his eyes at the statement.

Fred frowned at the flippant response. "You got medicine and bandages." he asked.

"Not with us." Quatre answered hoping to stop Duo from making the man, who was currently their benefactor, angry.

"Humm..." Fred brought his dirty hand up to his scraggily beard and stroked it as he thought. "Looks like you need a doctor."

"I'm fine." Duo snapped in response. "No doctor."

Fred put his hands up in surrender. "I get the picture, kid. No need to get nasty."

"I'm not being nasty." Duo lifted his chin defensively. "I'm cranky. You don't want to see me in a nasty mood." he warned icily.

"That's the truth." Quatre muttered, and the old man smiled as he turned off the t.v.

"It's late." Fred stated as he stretched his fully clothed body out onto the bed. "Get some sleep." he told them, then reached up and turned out the light in between the beds, plunging the room into darkness. This sudden act caught Quatre completely by surprise as he stood by the foot of the beds and was the only one without one to rest on.

"Come on, Quatre." Duo's voice called out irritably. The Sandrock pilot made his way to the bed and felt his way up to the top in the total darkness. He pulled back the cover and lay down next to his friend. Duo lay on top of the covers as he had before the light had gone out. His body position hampered the blonde's movement and space.

"Get under the covers, Duo." he gently ordered, acutely aware that Duo's mood had changed drastically since they entered the room from the bath. He wondered if it was Fred's presence that set him off. They'd finally gotten a good look at their benefactor in the light of the hotel room. The older man was dressed in baggy and unkept clothing and was rather pathetic in his dirty, unkept state. His shaggy, salt-and pepper-hair was chin length and stuck out in various places, stiff from the lack of cleaning. He smelled, not as bad as they had when they'd first entered the room, but there was definite a strong body odor. His face sported a matching greying and unkept beard that covered up most of the weathered face. All in all, Fred looked like he'd been on the streets all his life. Quatre wondered if his appearance brought back one too many memories of L-2 to Duo.

"I don't think I should." Duo replied in a quieter voice to his friend. "The sheets might stick to my legs, or you might accidently bump them."

"But you'll be cold." the blond reasoned, knowing Duo chilled easily and that his hair was still heavily damp from the shower.

"Well, I don't know what else to do." Quatre could hear the exasperation in the voice of the unhappy boy.

"Oh for pity's sake!" Fred snorted and a rustling of clothing was heard. The light was clicked back on and it's intensity was painful to the eyes that had just gotten accustomed to the dark. The two boys squinted as they watched Fred get up and move to the closet. Opening it, he pulled out a blanket and turned to approach Duo. Snapping it open, the old man bent and carefully draped it over the undamaged parts of the wounded boy's body, then loosened the covers at the bottom of the bed, pulled them up and over his bare feet. "There!" he declared with satisfaction. "Consider yourself tucked in." He then turned and made his way back to his bed. Sitting down, he looked at the two and added in a forceful voice, "Now, shut the hell up so I can get some sleep."

The two boys had only a moment to exchange a glance at each other before the light went out. Quatre's face had looked confused, Duo's perturbed.

The creak of the mattress springs told them Fred was settling back down on the bed and there followed a few moments of silence. Then through the dark, Duo's clear and ticked-off voice spoke up.

"You shut the hell up!"

Another moment passed before a chuckle was heard and soon escalated into a full belly laugh. Fred spent the next few minutes in total enjoyment of some private joke.

"Ah....." he sighed as he gained control. "Gotta love a kid from L-2 with an attitude. Damn that colony sure knows how to make em."

"Go to sleep old man, or I'll show you attitude." Duo snapped, however, there was now a trace of humor to his voice.

Five minutes later, as the two boys relaxed and settled enough for sleep to overtake them, they were both startled to wakefulness by a loud, unsettling, harsh, and drawn out noise. Quatre groaned and buried his head under his half of the shared pillow. 

"He snores." Duo moaned miserably.

TBC

Only one chapter to go!


	13. Part 13

Disclaimer: see first page of fic.

Educating Quatre

By: Dyna Dee

Part 13

warning: Violence 

Check out time from the aging hotel was eleven a.m. Dressed for the day, Duo wore his pair of sweat pants he'd saved from the night before, a dark green t-shirt, and kept his hair down in an effort retain the appearance of a girl. Quatre had risen early that morning and washed out the two dresses, using all the soap left in the bathroom. The light material dried quickly when placed over the heater. He admitted to feeling embarrassed and shabby as he wore the badly wrinkled dress Duo had worn the day before, not having a needle or a thread to repair the tear in his own. 

They left the room with Fred and went directly to the hotel's restaurant, treating the freshly washed street bum to a large breakfast, just a small way to thank him for his help. After the meal, Fred bid them a hasty farewell with a wink of an eye and a wave of his arm, then he unceremoniously disappeared down the street.

The two boy/girls made an attempt to appear to casually wander through several shops down the few remaining streets to their destination. Upon reaching it, they quickly ducked down the now familiar alleyway to the bar's side door. Duo's pounding on the metal door brought Sly himself to see what was going on. The big, balding man reached out with both hands and hauled the two teens inside. Both boys were enthusiastically greeted by the relieved women present as they had feared the worse when the two failed to return the day before. Sly eyed them suspiciously. 

The women quickly discovered Duo's injured legs when one of them bumped into him and he cried out in pain. He was quickly ushered upstairs to their attic bed and they began the mothering/nurse routine. They cleaned and bandaged his legs, hearing his story of how he'd scraped them. What he told them was close to the truth, he just left out why he was really jumping up into an air shaft. He explained to them that he'd been injured jumping up into a vent to escape pursuing soldiers. Close enough to the truth for Duo to feel comfortable telling them the slightly altered story.

Duo seemed to be quite comfortable in being doted on by the bar's employees. Sitting back against the many pillows propped up for his comfort, food and drink near his slightest reach, and even a television was brought up to keep him entertained while the overprotecting females insisted he stay in bed.

After several hours of fussing, the women left to prepare for the bar's opening that evening. Duo sighed contentedly and leaned back into the pillows. "Now I know what it must be like to be Quatre Winner," he said in a soft, teasing voice.

"Very funny." Quatre folded his arms across his chest and gave his friend a crooked smile. It was nice to see his American friend in a better mood.

"So....," Duo drawled. "How long do we stay here?"

"As long as it takes for you to be able to move more easily," he answered, as he leaned casually against the bedpost at the end of the bed.

Duo's brows pulled together in a frown as his eyes gazed thoughtfully down at the sheet covering his bandaged legs. He then looked up through his long bangs to the blonde. "I could go right now, if I had to," he offered, though his voice sounded a bit worried.

Quatre moved from his position and sat on the edge of the bed near his friend. He smiled at him in a reassuring manner. "No need to rush it," he replied. "We seem to be secure here, and Heero did give us a week." Relief was evident on the heart-shaped face.

They spent the next three days planning on how to retrieve Sandrock. Though the news did report the fire within the Hertzog-Bellow's building, and that it was speculated it was apparently set to distract the authorities from an armed robbery that took place on the thirty-eighth floor, where casualties had been reported. There was no word on the local newscast as to the success or failure of Heero and Wufei's attempt to escape and reclaim Deathscythe. The two boys housed in the attic room took it as a good omen. OZ wasn't one to report setbacks, or having mud pushed up their noses, as Duo put it. Yep, no news was considered good news.

Oz's presence in the city seemed to greatly diminish over those few days, as if it lost all enthusiasm or organization in contrast to their previous search through the city. Cherry reported that everything seemed to be going back to normal again on the streets.

On the evening of the fifth day since Wufei's rescue, the two gundam pilots bid farewell to their hosts. A backpack filled with food and necessities was given to them as they said goodbye for the last time to Hal and his employees. Quatre placed several crisp hundred dollar credits into his hand as they shook in farewell.

Hailing a cab, the two dressed in their own clothing with dark baseball-type hats covering their hair and eyes and duffel bags slung over their shoulders, were driven to a location one block away from where Sandrock was stashed, in a large metal warehouse.

Buying a couple of sodas from a fast food restaurant to lend them a casual air, the two strolled towards the warehouse and then walked past it. Quatre's eyes studied the building as he gave the appearance to anyone who might be observing them of merely talking to his companion. "I don't see anything suspicious," he reported in a low voice. They scouted as much of the large building and its perimeters outside the fence as much as they could. They observed only one security person on the premises, who walked the perimeter of the building with a bright flashlight in hand before entering a side office.

"Looks good." Duo nodded, grateful that it looked like they wouldn't have to fight to free Sandrock. The front gate lock was held shut by a simple thick chain secured by a large padlock, no problem to the kid from L-2. "Security sucks Quatre," he commented aside to his friend as he quickly withdrew the pick from his hair, and within moments, the lock clicked open. He replaced his tool back into his hair with practiced ease.

"A high security facility would have asked too many questions," the blond answered a tad defensively. "Besides, it's adequate security for the bill of goods I handed the owner, stating the cargo as farm equipment.

Duo flashed a quick appreciative grin to the blond. "Clever boy," he whispered.

They slipped easily through the open gate, and re-linked the chain through the fence but left it unlocked for their exit. Quatre signaled Duo to begin a perimeter check to the left, he would take the right and they would met in the rear of the building as earlier planned.

Silently and invisible within the dark shadows, the two performed their task, their cautious and trained eyes scanning the area around the warehouse, searching for anything unusual.

"Nothin," Duo reported in a whisper as they met again at the back of the building.

Quatre nodded. "Step two," he whispered back.

They approached the building again, this time staying close to the metal wall of the storage building, and split again to repeat their first reconnaissance with attention to sound or movement from the inside. They met at the security booth.

/Three./ Duo signaled with his hands in the dim light, indicating he'd not seen or heard anything from the warehouse and was ready to proceed to the next planned step. Reaching into the pocket of his jacket, he withdrew his gun and released the safety, the blonde mirrored his actions.

Through the windows of the security room, they could see the lone guard sitting in a chair at a desk, watching the television on a far corner and eating a sandwich.

With a nod of his head to signal go, Quatre turned the doorknob and smiled, it turned smoothly and without sound, and best of all, it was unlocked. With guns up and ready, he mouthed the count to three. The two of them were suddenly in the room, guns pointed at the guard who blinked owlishly, his sandwich falling from his hands to land unheeded to the cement floor.

"Just cooperate buddy and you'll live to clock out at the end of your shift," Duo warned darkly.

"W...what do you want?" the frightened man asked as he raised both hands. "We don't keep any money on the premises."

"Well, actually," Quatre stepped forward. "I have a truck here I need to remove tonight.

The guard, who looked to be in his mid twenties nodded. "Whatever you want," he answered. "But please, I have a wife and child at home.

"Just do as you're told and you'll be home safe and sound," Duo cut in, not wanting to hear the man's pleas. It just reminded him that others, who had died at his hands, probably had similar lives.

"Are there any more security guards?" Quatre asked, shutting the door behind him. A negative shake of the guards head was his only answer.

Duo opened his left palm and wiggled his fingers. "Keys?"

The guard visibly swallowed and reached slowly to his desk. "In the left hand drawer."

Duo walked closer, Quatre warily watching in case there was a weapon in the drawer."

"Move slowly and use only your finger tips," Duo instructed, his voice low in warning.

Three minutes later, the two emerged from the room, keys in hand, and the guard gagged and trussed up securely to his chair with the duct tape they'd brought with them.

Quatre unlocked the large metal doors and cautiously pulled it opened. Both boy's winced as the loud squeak that erupted into the still of the night as the rusty hinges of the doors gave way to the movement. They slipped in through one of the doors and into the shadowed area inside the enormous warehouse that was filled to near capacity with vehicles of various shapes and sizes. The building was dimly lit by the skylights above that allowed the light of the quarter moon to shine down through the metal roofing and into the commercial building. Quatre pointed to the right wall and to the largest shadow situated in the middle of the long rectangular building that was spread out before them. Duo's eyes squinted at the tarp-covered object, vaguely recognizing the outline of Sandrock lying flat on it's back on the large flatbed of a transport truck.

Quatre squeezed his arm to signal they should proceed, and the two walked forward only a few feet before a very slight sound was heard off to the left, causing both boys to halt, ears straining. It had been a small pinging, of metal tapping against metal. It was slight enough to be something, or nothing at all.

Exchanging a quick glance, the two boy's separated. Duo pocketed his gun and pulled out his knife as he moved into the shadows to the left while Quatre moved out of the center isle to the right, moving with extreme caution as he walked towards his truck. He reached the cab and climbed up the very large step to reach the door, key in hand, when he heard a dull thud in the direction the first noise had come from. He quickly unlocked the cab of the large truck, sensing trouble.

"Hold it!" A deep voice firmly barked out from the shadows behind the truck.

Quatre froze, his heart pounding in his chest as the adrenaline kicked in. "Who are you?" he asked, making his voice small. "I don't carry money on me, other than twenty credits, "he added, hoping against hope this person was just a thief and that Duo would arrive any moment to help.

"I wondered how long it would take you to get back here." The man drawled in a smug, self-satisfied voice. "We've been staked out in this damn warehouse for the last four days just waiting for you arrival," he added with a sinister chuckle. "Getting kina hard to hide your suit, isn't it?" As the voice drew near, the person owning it became more visible.

"I don't know what you're talking about?" Quatre answered, hoping the man would move even closer so he could see exactly what he was up against. He wasn't the best of the team for a one-on-one physical fight, but he wouldn't give up easily. He just hoped this person hadn't seen Duo enter with him. They had both dressed in black, and with his darker hair, it was possible Duo could have been missed.

"Don't give me that load of shit," the man warned. " I know you're one of them."

"One of what?" Quatre asked trying to look confused and innocent. He continued on when the man didn't reply. "Look mister, I don't know what you want or what's going on here, but some guy hired me to pick up this truck and deliver it to him. He's three blocks away with five hundred credits for me to collect on delivery."

The man moved closer, his features now visible. He was short and stocky, all muscle it appeared. He wore his hair in a short military crew cut, and his eyes were narrowed in suspicion as he studied the small teen who obediently moved down from the step when he motioned with his gun for him to do so. "Who is this guy and what did he look like?" he asked, obviously doubting the story, but willing to question it.

Quatre thought fast. If this was one of the Special Team sent to capture them, they would know the description of Heero, Trowa, and Wufei. "Well, he didn't give me his name or anything, but he didn't seem much older than me," he began. "And he had reddish brown hair that kind of hung over the right eye. I think he had green eyes, but I'm not sure," he added.

"Where did you meet him?" the man asked taking a step closer.

"At the teen club on the corner of Krantz and Stoffen.

The man who looked to be in his mid-twenties frowned deeply. "I don't remember a teen center on those streets," he replied.

"Well, when is the last time you went to one?" Quatre asked, acting perturbed at his word being challenged, and thinking guiltily that he was getting pretty good at lying.

Reaching his hand behind him, the soldier pulled out a pair of handcuffs. "I'm taking you in any way kid, your story seems just a bit to shaky." Holding the cuffs out with one hand while the other continued to aim the gun at him, he ordered. "Put them on."

Quatre fumbled with them as if he'd never seen a pair of cuffs before, but within moments, both wrists were securely locked between the cold metal enclosures in front of his body. 

"Stiletto," the short haired man called out into the darkness. "I've got a suspect in custody." He paused a moment listening for an answer. "Stilts?"

His eyes narrowing suspiciously on the boy before him, he stepped closer. "Alright, if you make any move to escape, I'll kill you. Now, walk in front of me and towards the front door." His voice was cold and angry.

The Sandrock pilot obeyed and turned to face the direction he was ordered to move in. He cast his eyes about the shadows, hoping Duo would make his move soon. He felt the gun nudge him in the back and moved forward towards the entrance.

A sound behind him was his only warning. He moved to turn around when a shadow, an "oof", and the loud report of a gun coincided with a powerful, painful force that hit his shoulder and knocked him off his feet, plunging him face forward onto the cold cement floor. 

He was dimly aware of the sounds of a struggle behind him, and acting on instincts alone, the small Arabian wrapped tucked his cuffed hand up against his chest and rolled his body under the nearest vehicle. Once in its shadows, he turned to watch the two shadows on the floor struggling together. Not being able to see clearly, he guessed that Duo had made his move and deemed him to be the smaller of the two shadows.

"Give it up kid." The man's voice growled as he slammed Duo onto his back then threw his larger body on top of his, pinning the braided boy to the floor. "Don't tell me someone hired you to deliver another truck?" he sneered derisively.

Quatre could see that Duo was now completely pinned under the larger man's body though still struggling.

"Get off me you pervert," Duo snarled.

"Where's my partner?" the soldier ground out angrily.

Duo wisely remained silent, telling Quatre exactly what had happened to the man's partner.

The blond boy watched as the soldier pushed his torso up enough to maneuver himself to sit on top of the smaller figure's stomach, with brute force he moved the teen's arms so that they were pinned against his side and under his captors knees.

"Did you kill her you little shit?" he shouted and pulled Duo's upper body up by grabbing hold of his shirt.

Duo continued to keep his mouth shut, but his silence became the man's feared answer. He quickly lifted his right fist and slammed it down into Duo's face.

"I'll kill you myself," he declared. "To hell with my orders, there isn't anyone else left on the team but me, so I don't think they'll give a damn." He shouted in a fury and flung Duo's upper body and head to the ground and began to rain blows with his fists on the defenseless teenager.

"Duo!" Quatre yelled, and despite the pain in his shoulder and right arm, he rolled out from the shelter of the truck. Being handcuff and injured made it hard to maneuver his arms, but he clenched his teeth and ignored the pain as he reached into his pocket of his black pants and managed to pull out the small gun he always carried, grateful that the soldier hadn't thought to search him right away.

"Stop!" he ordered through gritted teeth, holding the small weapon in front of him in both hands and with dismay observed his gun was shaking wildly from the exertion and pain of moving his wounded arm and shoulder mingled with the first stages of shock. Allah, help me, he prayed to himself as he felt a wave of nauseous course through him. A soft cry passed his lips as the dizziness caused him to lose his balance and fall back from his crouched position onto his side, his gun flew out of his hand and slid into the darkness under the truck.

Even in the dim, filtered moonlight, the Arabian boy could see the soldier, turned berserker, grin in triumph as he paused in his beating of the other boy to smile at him.

"Your next kid." He laughed with a tinge of insanity to his voice. It was obvious the man thought the wounded boy was helpless after being shot at close range, as he turned back to beating Duo.

Quatre winced at the sound of flesh hitting flesh. Panic filled his dulled mind. He had to do something. His mind thought frantically and then the lessons he'd learned from Duo during their time in the city came back to him; you do what you have to in order to survive. Use what is at hand whether you like it or not.

He turned his head, quickly scanning the area around him, looking for something, anything to help Duo.

"SMACK!"

There, towards the side of the truck and close by was a drop cloth, tools, and a couple of cans. He forced himself to crawl the short distance on his knees, trying to keep as much weight off his wounded arm as possible.

"Thud!"

His hands searched frantically over the items. If he could stand up and move, he could attack the man physically, but he was in no shape to do so. If he could move much more, he's go search to his gun. But now there wasn't enough time to grope in the darkness for it.

"Slap!"

He quickly chose the heavy can of fluid that he judged to be motor oil and used the truck's runner and then the side handle of the truck's door to pull himself up to his feet. Breathing heavily from the effort standing too, he turned and looked back to his friend. The angry man had his hand in Duo's hair and was holding his upper body up with it, snarling threats into the boy's battered face. A faint glint of light on a shiny surface gave Quatre a start of hope. In Duo's pinned hand was a knife. Quatre now knew what he had to do before Duo lost consciousness.

"Hey!" he called out, and almost passing out from the pain, he heaved the can with both hands towards the enemy's head. The soldier looked up just as the can whipped by his startled face, his body, shifting just enough to miss it, unknowingly lifted his knee just enough for the boy pinned beneath him to move. His face reflected his disbelief, whether it was from the ability of the boy beneath him to wiggle free, or for the swift and final action that movement brought. His fists relaxed, releasing the material holding up the body he'd held in his hands, abruptly dropping the boy. He brought his hands up to his neck, and with a gurgle the only sound of his dismay, he tried to stop the gush of blood flowing from the deep slash not there moments before. He then fell forward onto the boy still pinned beneath him, the life in his eyes fading as he looked into the bruised and battered face of the boy who had ended his life.

"Duo." Quatre gripped his blood-soaked and useless arm as he stumbled towards his friend laying flat on the ground. He reached the other's side as the American grunted with effort as he rolled the dead weight from off of his chest. Falling to his knees next to the American, the injured blond put his left hand on his friend's chest to feel that Duo's body was trembling, his heart was beating rapidly.

"You okay?" the equally trembling voice whispered from below him.

"I've been shot." Quatre replied. "But I don't think it's too serious. How about you?"

"I really need an ice pack and some pain killers," Duo replied truthfully.

In the dim moonlight, the Sandrock pilot could barely see just how badly damaged Duo was, but he'd heard the fists impacting with Duo's face and knew he was probably pretty bad.

"I want to go home Duo," he sniffed, holding back the emotions that came along with being in shock. "What will we do now?" Even to himself he sounded like a lost child.

The American turned onto his side and slowly maneuvered him self onto his hands and knees and eased himself into a slouched sitting position. "Let's cut Sandrock loose and break out of here," he answered in a pained whisper.

"But won't they trace us? What about the exhaust fumes?" Quatre asked, trying to reason things out in his currently befuddled mind.

"Doesn't matter." Duo replied reaching out to exam his friend's injured arm. "While beating the crap outta me the smug bastard told me they'd been tracking us with a satellite orbiting the earth, programed to recognize the particle trail from the fuel emissions from the Gundams. Once we get outta here, we'll contact Heero. I'm sure he can hack into the system to find it and then he or one of the other guys can take it out. Then we can go home," he finished wearily and leaned his forehead against his friend's uninjured shoulder for some measure of comfort. 

"I heard him say the rest of his team was dead, so we'll have that pressure off of us for a while." Quatre said as he brought his good arm around to encircle Duo's trembling form, and gently rubbed comforting circles on his back, smelling the blood of the two soldiers that Duo had killed on his clothing. He held his friend as close to him as he could, knowing he would have nightmares for weeks about the lives he'd taken, even though their deaths were justified. Against his shoulder and under his hand he felt Duo shake with barely suppressed emotion, only the soft sniffing sounds betrayed his silent tears.

"Let's unstrap Sandrock." Quatre said softly. "With our injuries, it'll take both of us to pilot him if we're to get home anytime soon."

He felt Duo nod his head in agreement and let go of his hold on the boy. It was a struggle for both of them to stand and with their arms supporting each other, the two pilots made their way to the large truck.

Ten minutes later, with both boy's strapped into the pilot's chair, they piloted the white Gundam through the ceiling of the warehouse, up into the night sky.

Duo contacted Heero, who instantly wanted a status report. 

Duo's halted and slightly slurred speech relayed only the pertinent information regarding the tracking satellite and their present coordinates. 

Heero suddenly asked for a visual, causing both pilots to look at each other. They figured it wouldn't take the Wing pilot too long to figure out something was wrong. Duo shrugged. "They'll know as soon as we land anyway," he whispered.

Quatre nodded and flipped on the switch that activated the interior camera. There was a moment of silence on the other end of the communication and they knew Heero was taking in the most obvious damage: first, Duo's abused face, with the swollen eyes, bloody nose and lips. Then, without a doubt, Heero's eyes would surely catch sight of the blood all over Quatre's upper right arm where the bullet, that had entered his right shoulder, had exited.

"We'll have medical waiting when you land," Heero said calmly, then continued his conversation with Duo on their present status.

As they spoke, Quatre closed his eyes and took a deep breath, reflecting for a moment on all that had happened during the last week in the company of the street-wise boy from L-2. He was no longer quite as naive as he had been now having seen a whole other way of life and a glimpse of how Duo had lived as a child. He didn't want to repeat this experience anytime soon, but it was comforting to realize that, if he was left alone without money in his pocket, that he could survive. That had been Duo's lesson to him. To do what you had to do with what means you had to survive to live another day. As Duo shut down the COM board, he blond opened his eyes again and set the coordinates for the safehouse into the auto pilot and switched it on.

It was rather cramped as the two shared the plot seat, and Duo leaned heavily against his undamaged shoulder and sighed. "Heero will destroy the satellite." He yawned carefully, wincing at the pain the small act brought. "We're to head east for one hour, south for a half hour and after that we head to the safehouse. He'll have it destroyed by the time we get there, so we just have to hold on until then," he finished, his voice sounding small as he nuzzled his head into a position that was as comfortable as it was going to get in his battered condition.

With only a little movement, Quatre turned off the Auto Pilot, reset the coordinated and locked in the time, just in case they slept through it, then switched the system back on. He checked the fuel level and hoped it was going to be enough, yet knew the claxons would sound if anything went wrong while they rested.

"How are you feeling Duo?" he asked, sounding as weary as he felt, reasoning to himself that it was no doubt due to the loss of blood and some shock. He cautiously settled back again, trying to ignore the constant throb and pain from the bullet's entry point in the back of his shoulder blade that worsened as it touched the back of the pilot's seat. 

When they had first entered Sandrock's cockpit, they had inspected each other's wounds and patched each other up as much as possible under their limited mobility their battered conditions with the first aid kit Quatre always carried with him in Sandrock. At the end of the quick patch up, they both concluded with an almost hysterical laugh that hurt, that they were both a mess.

"I feel like I've been beaten to a pulp." Duo answered sleepily, his head resting heavily on his friend's left shoulder. "How 'bout you?"

The blond pilot sighed, "Pretty much the same as you," he replied, then tilted his head to the side to rest in against the top of Duo's head.

After a moment of silence and as sleep was close at hand, Duo spoke up again. "Quatre?"

"Yes."

"Let's take a vacation from the war for a couple of days, okay?"

"Sounds good to me." Quatre yawned.

"Promise?"

The pilot of Sandrock heard the undercurrent of a desperate plea from his friend in his request. He would see to it that Duo got the rest he needed, what they both needed. "Yeah, I'll clear it with Heero," he answered. "We'll lay around in the sun while the others wait on us. How's that sound?"

Duo sighed deeply. "Somehow that seems familiar, but a great idea. Thanks." Duo's voice faded, and as his body became dead weight against his side, Quatre knew he'd finally drifted off to sleep. But before sleep could take over his own body, he gave a quick prayer of thanks to Allah that they'd survived once again, and silently vowed that he would do all in his power to see that his companion never had to return to a life like the one they'd lived during the past week. Weariness finally won over the strong-willed teen, and he too, slumped against his friend, giving into his body's need to rest. And his last thought while barely conscious brought a sense of comfort to him, that when they awoke, their friends would be at the safehouse, waiting for their return.

  
  


The End!

  
  


I hope you enjoyed Duo and Quatre's adventure together. Thanks to all for your reviews, I appreciate them and the encouragement you give me. :D 

DFA will continue soon.

  
  



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